HK Crisis 'linked To Golden Horse Ban'

China analyst Mark O'Neill says Beijing's growing concerns about civil unrest in Hong Kong were behind its decision to ban mainland filmmakers from taking part in the prestigious Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan this year.

The mainland's film regulator announced on Wednesday that its movies and artistes would not participate in the event often dubbed the Oscars of Chinese-language cinema for the first time since 1993. The decision comes months ahead of January's presidential election in Taiwan.

"This is all part of their effort to warn Taiwan's electors that if you choose [President] Tsai Ing-wen for another four years, relations with the mainland will deteriorate further; trade will be affected, exchanges will be affected, culture will be affected and you'll pay a heavy price," O'Neill told RTHK's Hugh Chiverton.

"They very much want to persuade the electors to choose either Han Kuo-yu, the Kuomintang candidate or, yesterday we learned that the mayor of Taipei, Ko Wen-je had set up a new party. He hasn't said he'll stand for president but he might."

O'Neill linked the decision to a seminar in Shenzhen the same day, at which Beijing officials took a firm line on anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong and ruled out making any concessions, including setting up an independent inquiry.

He said Beijing was conscious that concerns about the situation in Hong Kong had damaged the prospects of mainland-friendly candidates in Taiwan, but had made keeping dissent here in check its priority.

Beijing had previously announced that it would stop issuing permits for individual tourists to visit Taiwan from next month.

O'Neill also said that hard-line comments by the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Zhang Xiaoming, at Wednesday's seminar showed that Beijing would not allow Hong Kong officials to make further concessions on the now-suspended extradition bill.