Chinese A-lister Yao Chen defends her stance on refugees

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Chinese actress Yao Chen is once again at the center of a social media firestorm. This time, over her alleged comments on refugees. The A-lister, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, attended a UNHCR event on June 20 in Beijing on “World Refugee Day”.

CFP Photo

In conjunction with the event, the UNHCR took to Chinese microblogging platform Weibo to “pay tribute to all the 65.6 million refugees around the globe who have been forced to become destitute and homeless, as well as to those who support and are concerned about refugees.”

Screenshot of UNHCR Weibo post

The post, and Yao's repost, received overwhelming response from netizens and was swiftly shared 30,000 times. A few days later on June 23, a post on Sohu blog turned up the heat - accusing Yao of being hypocritical. It also criticized the star and other famous intellectuals for urging people to throw their support behind refugees in recent years.

Chinese netizens soon turned on Yao, accusing her of standing up for refugees when Chinese citizens have enough problems – having to deal with poverty and other pertinent issues.

Some took to the web to give their two cents on whether China should accept refugees. “We didn’t have 30 years of one-child policy in order to let in other people,” commented @xiaohuzixiashi.

During a routine briefing last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pointed out that “refugees are not migrants” and “China supports efforts to prevent the further deterioration of the refugee crisis in the Middle East.”

File photo of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. /CFP Photo

Following the social media controversy, Yao published a post on Weibo on Monday, not only citing Wang’s stance on the issue but also clarifying that she never called on China to accept refugees.

“I have never represented this view at any time or in any occasion,” Yao wrote in the post.

Yao went on to explain her responsibility as UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, which includes calling on people to care about the refugee community through her on-site visits, as well as sharing their stories.

CFP Photo

The actress ended the post with thanks to those who support her, “I would like to continue on such a job and I believe the misunderstanding and queries will finally vanish.”

Earlier in June, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi renewed Yao’s Goodwill Ambassador tenure for an additional two years. Yao, who has been a Goodwill Ambassador since 2013, has over 80 million fans on Weibo, a figure which is twice the total population of the UK.