Anastasia Lin, the Miss World candidate and human rights activist who was barred from entering China last week, must pay the price for aligning herself with “hostile” anti-China forces, a government-controlled newspaper has claimed.
Lin, a 25-year-old Canadian beauty pageant winner and outspoken critic of the Communist party, was prevented from flying into the southern Chinese island of Hainan last Thursday.
The acting student, who was born in China but moved to Canada in 2003, had hoped to take part in this year’s Miss World contest which concludes on 19 December in Hainan’s capital, Sanya.
However, Lin, who is a practitioner of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that is banned in China, was blocked from boarding a connecting flight to Sanya from Hong Kong.
“China does not allow any persona non grata to come to China,” a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Ottawa told Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper.
After she was prevented from Lin accused China’s rulers of being “afraid of a beauty queen” and vowed to continue her campaign against human rights abuses.
“My purpose is to advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves – those who suffer in prisons and labor camps, or whose voices have been stifled by repression and censorship,” she wrote on Facebook.
But in an editorial, the Global Times tabloid said Lin had “to pay a cost for being tangled with hostile forces against China”.
The Global Times dismissed Lin as a “pretty girl” and accused her of grumbling about not being allowed in China.
Lin had called for independence in Xinjiang and Tibet and given evidence at a US congressional hearing on religious persecution, the newspaper said.
“Lin needs to learn to be responsible for her words and deeds, and for the possible consequences of the path chosen based on her own values,” the Global Times argued.
Speaking last week after she was denied entry to China, Lin said she felt proud to have become the latest celebrity to be blacklisted for going against the party line.
Recent years have seen a succession of artists banned from China after they were seen to have criticised Beijing, including bands such as Oasis and Maroon 5 and Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Christian Bale.
“When I was told I’m persona non grata, I had to look it up on Wikipedia,” Lin told the New York Times.
“At first I was mad, but then I realised I’ve joined the ranks of such handsome men as Brad Pitt and Christian Bale. Now I realise it’s a badge of honour.”
