Former NBA star Dwight Howard has drawn a wave of criticism on Chinese social media after calling Taiwan a country in a promotional video with the Taiwanese vice president.
The video, which was published last Wednesday, showed the American basketball player supporting a campaign for a specific number of foreign tourists to spend a night in the presidential office building in Taiwan.
“Hi everyone, I’m Dwight Howard and since coming to Taiwan I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for this country,” Howard said in the video.
China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, saying the island is part of “one China” ruled by Beijing and that it will never shy away from using force to extend its sovereignty.
China rejects Taiwan’s independence, which means excluding the island from many international organizations, and its athletes compete in international championships under the slogan “Chinese Taipei”.
It didn’t take long for a backlash to emerge after the video was released.
The hashtag #HowardTaiwan Independence has gone viral on China’s Weibo social media platform, with nearly 400 million hits by Friday.
--Many people accused Howard of promoting Taiwan independence, which is anathema to Beijing.
Last year, Howard joined the Taoyuan Leopards, a professional Taiwanese team. The most famous player to play in the Taiwanese league did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vice President William Lai, who will run in Taiwan’s presidential election next year, appeared with Howard, pretending to have directed a video in which Lai refers to Taiwan as a “free country.”
The Taiwanese government rejects China’s claims to sovereignty over the island and says that only the Taiwanese people have the right to self-determination.
The NBA is very popular in China and this was not the first time that people associated with the league had stirred up controversy there.
In 2019, Chinese television stations stopped broadcasting Houston Rockets games after general manager Daryl Morey posted a message on Twitter in support of anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
