Taiwan’s President Ma Ying Jeou shows support for TWICE’s Tzuyu

Politician Ma Ying Jeou, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), has spoken up in front of the press in response to the controversy regarding TWICE member Tzuyu.

The girl group member is currently under fire for holding up the Taiwanese flag instead of the flag of the People’s Republic of China, despite her Taiwanese origins. Chinese netizens have shown their extreme unhappiness by boycotting the entire entertainment company and labelmates 2PM have since cancelled all their Chinese schedules.

JYP Entertainment released an official statement as an apology about the matter, while many are cringing at the video of Tzuyu herself making an official apology. In response to the video, President Ma gave his statement, which was also shared onto his Facebook:

“This is my opinion regarding Zhou Zi Yu’s incident: A 16-year-old Taiwanese girl is striving hard in Korea’s entertainment industry. However, because she displayed the Republic of China’s national flag and did not do anything else wrongly, she was forced to make an apology. I think that this incident is not right, it is something we cannot accept. I would also like to tell Ms. Zhou that she does not need to apologize, we support her! Besides, I think we should also let the Chinese authorities and Chinese nationals understand that a person who truly embraces Taiwan will never hold the ideology of Taiwan independence. We think that citizens, living domestically or overseas, displaying the Taiwanese flag is proper and should be given support for!”

Meanwhile, the presidential elections is currently underway in Taiwan and a new president will take over for Ma Ying Jeou who was appointed in 2008. Presidential candidates Tsai Ing-wen and Eric Chu, along with Vice President Wu Den-yih have also voiced out their support for Tzuyu, while fans are trending #StandByYu on Twitter.