TV star Dee Hsu trolled by mainland China online army after calling Taiwanese athletes ‘national players’

Star known as Little S also drew ire when she commented on a Taiwanese Olympian’s loss to China in badminton, ‘despite your defeat I am still proud of you’

Singer Jolin Tsai was targeted after congratulating Taiwanese athletes but failing to congratulate mainland Chinese Olympians

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Published: 7:42pm, 3 Aug 2021Updated: 11:02pm, 3 Aug 2021

Popular Taiwanese TV hostess Dee Hsu has become the latest target of Chinese mainland nationalists after she addressed the island’s Olympic athletes as “national players” in remarks seen as violating the one-China principle.

Affectionately known as Little S, Hsu has showed strong support through her Instagram posts for the island’s athletes in the Tokyo Olympics, including women’s badminton silver medallist Tai Tzu-ying and men’s badminton doubles gold medallists Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin, as well as Lin Yun-ju, who clinched a bronze along with his partner Cheng I-ching in the mixed table tennis doubles.

In describing the quarter finals between Tai and her Thai opponent Ratchanok Intanon last Friday, Hsu – who is also an actress and singer – said the match was so fiercely fought it made her stomach cramp because of the high emotion. She praised Tai for being “super sharp”.

In response to an internet user’s query, she said she wanted to invite “our national players” to her house for a meal, a comment meant to be a joke. But it riled mainland netizens.

The online community was also upset with Hsu over another comment after Tai took silver following a close battle with China’s Chen Yufei in the women’s badminton singles final on Sunday in which Hsu said: “despite your defeat I am still proud of you”.

The online critics thought Hsu should never have supported Tai, who said after the finals she was happy to win a medal for Taiwan, a reference the nationalistic netizens believed showed Tai backed Taiwanese independence.

The internet users then flooded the TV hostess’ Instagram and Twitter-like Weibo accounts with furious comments, calling Hsu a traitor and suggesting she quit show business on the mainland. Some even claimed Hsu was trying to use the Olympics to present Taiwan as a country.