The Premier of Taiwan has struck out at China’s recent ban of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, stating Taiwan will issue no such ban on the game.
In case you missed our prior report, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was reportedly banned across China. While there was no confirmation as to why, the prevailing theory is that it was due to the game allowing users to express messages the Chinese government would usually ban, such as support for the Free Hong Kong protests.
Now Su Tseng-chang, the Premier of Taiwan, announced on Facebook that no such ban would be coming to Taiwan.
“Taiwan will not censor a game where you pick up tree branches and grow turnips, players, feel free to make fun of the government.
Democracy and freedom of speech are Taiwan’s most important values, everyone can use any medium to say what they want to say, please everyone cherish this (“lifestyle”), go ahead and play at your heart’s content.
#you can troll/meme/make fun of us, no problem
#but please don’t make jokes about the epidemic”
Translation: Reddit
In the screenshot, Tseng-chang also states “Please cherish our Taiwan, a place where you can play video games freely.”
Most of Taiwanese politics seem to be in support of any nation who wishes to be independent of China, such as Hong Kong.
In short, “China” has united and divide many times over its history. While the Republic of China formed in 1912, the Chinese Civil war saw the faction retreat to the island of Taiwan in 1949. The other faction became the People’s Republic of China. forming and controlling the mainland along with several islands.
In 1971 UN Resolution 2758 declared the People’s Republic of China as “the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations.” Representatives of Taiwan (the Republic of China) were then removed.
China have demanded nations who wish to deal with them not deal with Taiwan, with allegations of China using its influence to restrict any mention of the “Two Chinas.” This includes allegations of China influencing sporting events such as the Olympics from prevent Taiwan from even entering under its new name. This resulted in Taiwan entering under “Chinese Taipei” in the 1980s.
In 2019, War Thunder removed the flag of Taiwan from the game, even on vehicles where it would have been accurate to have that flag on them.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is out now on Nintendo Switch. In case you missed it, you can find our review here (we recommend it).
