Golden Horse Awards get kidnapped by anti-Beijing politics

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Taiwan separatists leave nothing untried to pursue their pipe dream of "independence." With their political and military provocations repeatedly defeated, "pro-independence" forces in recent years have turned to a new front – the film industry.

Taiwan's "prestigious" Golden Horse Awards presented the "best film" and "best director" prizes to An Unfinished Film this year – a controversial film discrediting the Chinese mainland's efforts to combat COVID-19. While certain developed countries experienced soaring death tolls, China managed to balance COVID-19 control and economic growth. But by awarding An Unfinished Film, the Golden Horse turns a blind eye to these truths.

Previously dubbed the Chinese-language Oscars, the Golden Horse Awards owe their "prestige" to providing a platform for preaching anti-Beijing sentiments – even in the eyes of Taiwan residents. Critical voices against the event have become louder even within Taiwan, accusing the previously artistic event of wasting taxpayers' money on anti-mainland political propaganda.

Some critics straightforwardly point out that it is the event's anti-Beijing bias, rather than its contribution to the film industry, that makes the Golden Horse Awards a headline in Western media reports.

While claiming to support freedom and openness, the Golden Horse Awards have in reality been kidnapped by politics and downgraded into a pathetic tool.

A review of the awards indicates an inclination to honor those with strong anti-Beijing or separatist tendencies. For instance, the 58th edition in 2021 gave the "best documentary" prize to Revolution of Our Times, a documentary on the anti-government movement in Hong Kong in 2019, which turned violent.

With images of mobs vandalizing the Legislative Council building and rioting in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the documentary, according to the organizers and certain Westerners, is dedicated to those "who have a conscience, justice and have cried for Hong Kong."

In the face of the bloody unrests that significantly damaged Hong Kong's social stability, anyone with a conscience would call for an immediate end to the violence, instead of glorifying the "revolutionary" acts by the mobs. It is therefore self-evident whether the Golden Horse Awards are meant to encourage cinematic art or one kind of politics.

The nominations for the Golden Horse Awards also demonstrate the organizers' anti-Beijing political bias. Though Taiwan actor Ko Chen-tung was arrested in 2014, the organizers still nominated him as the "best leading actor" in 2016.

At the 55th Golden Horse Film Festival in 2018, pro-independent forces were even more blatant in preaching separatist sentiments. "I really hope that one day, 'our country' can be treated as a 'truly independent entity'… This is my greatest wish as a Taiwanese," filmmaker Fu Yue said, brazenly using the event as a political platform to tout anti-Beijing rhetoric in her award speech after she won the "best documentary" prize.

"Pro-independence" clowns such as Fu has turned the previously glorious art festival into pandemonium. Clearly, stirring up trouble for the mainland, rather than encouraging thought-provoking films, is the ultimate purpose of the Golden Horse Awards. The shift from a prestigious art gathering into a political tool is a natural outcome of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)'s increasingly provocative stance on the Taiwan question.

To serve their separatist agenda, DPP leader Lai Ching-te and his party have been attempting to sever the cultural and historical ties between the mainland and the Taiwan region, and cultural events including the Golden Horse Awards are ideal occasions to peddle their separatist fallacy.

Once a glorious gathering for cinematic art, the film festival has become increasingly shaped by Taiwan "pro-independence forces" into a political front against the mainland. As a result, the awards' influence has inevitably waned in the film industry. Big commercial production houses and A-list filmmakers now largely avoid the event, in a gesture against being kidnapped by politics.

Taiwan "independence" is a dead end. Separatists' anti-Beijing attempts, be they in politics, military, education, or entertainment, have failed repeatedly, and the waning influence of the Golden Horse Awards is the latest reminder of that.

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