Mainland TV show politicized by Taiwan politicians

BEIJING - A mainland Taiwan Affairs spokeswoman on Wednesday accused a number of Taiwan politicians of unduly politicizing a mainland reality show after it was labeled politically motivated programming by an opposition party chairman from the island.

Mainland-produced singing contest "I Am A Singer" has become immensely popular in Taiwan, but Su Tseng-chang, chairman of Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), claimed on April 14 that it is an attempt by the mainland to penetrate Taiwan and that the Taiwan public should stay alert toward its influences.

Fan Liqing, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said the program has been politicized despite the facts that audiences have idolized its contestants and TV stations base their judgement largely on audience ratings.

Fan expressed hope that certain DPP personnel remove their hostility toward the mainland and refrain from standing in the way of cross-Straits cultural exchanges.

Of the seven groups who competed in the final of "I Am?A Singer", presented by the mainland's Hunan Satellite TV, four came from Taiwan.

Fan also briefed on a recently concluded folk cultural exchange activity in which a statue of Guan Gong, a deified ancient general widely worshipped by Chinese people, was taken on a tour of Taiwan.

The statue, from a shrine in Guan Gong's hometown in the mainland's Shanxi province, was displayed in 14 cities and counties in the island, attracting at least four million Taiwan residents, according to the briefing.

Fan said the mainland will continue promoting such exchanges, so as to bring people from both sides of the Taiwan Straits closer and promote Chinese culture and traditional virtues.