Chan’s Recent Comments Anger Hong Kong and Taiwan

At a recent forum of mostly Chinese businessmen, internationally-known action film star Jackie Chan stated that Chinese people are used to be controlled and that democracy wouldn’t be good for them. “Chinese people need to be controlled,” he said, adding that democratic freedom has made his native Hong Kong and Taiwan “chaotic”.

As was expected, the remarks drew heavy criticism from lawmakers in Hong Kong, which was a British crown colony for nearly 150 years before being handed back to Beijing and still enjoys limited democracy, and Taiwan, which has a fully functioning self-ruling democratically-elected government. One Hong Kong lawmaker, Albert Ho, called the comments racist. “People around the world are running their own countries.” he said. “Why can’t Chinese do the same?”

Politically-charged statements are surprisingly rare for popular Chinese actors like Jackie Chan. Although he joined the international chorus of criticism of China’s brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989, he has largely stayed out of the highly sensitive political debate on China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, choosing instead to concentrate on his acting career. At 55, he still does most of his own stunts, with dozens of broken bones to prove it. He is perhaps second only to the legendary Bruce Lee as the most popular Asian actor ever.

It is somewhat interesting that, while making his anti-democratic statements, Chan avoided any mentioning of freedom in the United States, the country in which he enjoys the most popularity outside China. His three “Rush Hour” films grossed nearly $500 million collectively at the North American box office.

I grew up idolizing Jackie Chan and he is still one my favorite actors but even I’m a little disturbed by his remarks. It is mostly thanks to the “chaotic” freedom that Hong Kong enjoys that he has been able to attain such worldwide success and popularity as a film star. He was born and raised in Hong Kong, which was a very prosperous British crown colony while nearly one billion Chinese on the mainland languished under a strict brand of communism that would’ve made Josef Stalin blush.

I don’t expect Chan to use his worldwide clout to promote democracy in China but he is one of the last people I’d expect to hear say that the Chinese need to be controlled. The CEO of his company was quick to say that Chan’s comments were taken out of text. Gee! Now, how many times have we all heard that defense?