Os chineses não precisam de liberdade!

Certas figuras públicas não parecem ter a noção da gravidade dos disparates que proferem. Será Jackie Chan uma dessas pessoas? As suas recentes afirmações no Fórum de Boao têm sido reproduzidas e comentadas um pouco por toda a blogosfera (por exemplo, aqui e aqui). O South China Morning Post também lhe dedicou este cartoon, acompanhando a notícia abaixo:

Jackie Chan in the thick of the action again

Will Clem in Boao, Hainan
South China Morning Post
April 19, 2009

A few years ago he got into hot water for describing the Taiwanese elections as the "biggest joke in the world". Yesterday Jackie Chan was at it again, saying Chinese people needed to be controlled and too much freedom can lead to chaos "like in Taiwan".

Speaking at a creative industries forum at the Boao meeting, the action star said: "I don't know whether it is better to have freedom or to have no freedom. With too much freedom ... it can get very chaotic, could end up like in Taiwan." His comments drew applause from the audience.

His thoughts then took a bizarre turn when he said he would definitely not buy a TV set made on the mainland because he feared it might explode. If he wanted to buy a TV set, he would buy a Japanese-made one, he said.

Chan had to run a gauntlet of journalists chasing him for clarification about his comments when he left the morning panel meeting.

"I meant politics ... it's a bit better now," he said as he dashed for cover. He did not explain whether this was a reference to the change in the island's president last year from the pro-independence-leaning Chen Shui-bian to Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang.

Chan, who admitted earlier that he found public speaking "much scarier than performing stunts", had been responding to a question on limits placed on overseas filmmakers shooting on the mainland.

Ironically, Chan's latest film, Shinjuku Incident, was banned on the mainland for being too violent.

But Chan appeared in no mood to criticise Beijing yesterday. "If you want to make a film in China, you have to follow our rules," he said.

And he stressed that the situation on the mainland had improved greatly in the 12 years since the Hong Kong handover, the 30 years of economic reform and the 60 years since the People's Republic was founded.

"It is very difficult to compare directly with other countries overseas. I am certain that China will get better and better in the future. This is my belief," he said.