HONG KONG kung fu supremo Jackie Chan is famous worldwide for beating up the bad guys, but the action star is unlikely to use his martial arts skills to fight for democracy.
Chan launched a broadside against calls for more freedom in China, saying he wasn’t sure if a free society was what the country needed and that Chinese people needed to be controlled. His remarks have proven highly unpopular in his native city-state.
“I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m really confused now. If you’re too free, you’re like the way Hong Kong is now. It’s very chaotic. Taiwan is also chaotic,” Chan (55) told a high-profile conference in the tropical resort town of Boao.
He had been pressed by fellow panel members to take a stance against rigorous control of the media on the mainland and to give his views on censorship in the growing Chinese film market.
“I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled,” he said. “If we’re not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want.”
His comments were warmly received by the audience, which was composed mostly of Chinese business leaders, but Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators were incensed.
“He’s insulted the Chinese people, Chinese people aren’t pets,” said Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator Leung Kwok-hung. “Chinese society needs a democratic system to protect human rights and rule of law.”
Veteran pro-democracy legislator Albert Ho said Chan’s remarks were “racist”.
“People around the world are running their own countries. Why can’t Chinese do the same?”
Like many Hong Kongers with major business interests in mainland China, Chan has taken a steadfastly pro-Beijing line since the former British colony reverted to Chinese control in 1997.
However, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong citizens have taken to the streets over the years to push for more democracy, which is contained in the territory’s constitution as the “Basic Law”.
The Basic Law means that Hong Kong enjoys considerably more freedom than the mainland. Beijing is not keen to allow greater representation as it does not want democracy on its territory, which could threaten single-party rule.
In democratic Taiwan, which split from China after the civil war in 1949, MP Huang Wei-che said Chan “has enjoyed freedom and democracy and has reaped the economic benefits of capitalism, but he has yet to grasp the true meaning of freedom”.
The panel also included producer Andre Morgan and president of the WPP advertising and PR company Sir Martin Sorrell, as well as local industry figures.
Chan was critical of the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing and other Chinese cities in June 1989, but in recent years has taken a much more pro-Beijing line. He was heavily involved in the public relations drive ahead of the Olympics and features as a Chinese customs officer in a promotional video aimed at stopping tourists buying pirated goods when visiting China.
