Miss World Canada denied China entry at Hong Kong airport after human rights advocacy
Chinese-Canadian beauty queen and actress Anastasia Lin was blocked from entering mainland China on Thursday to compete in the Miss World pageant after she criticised the country's sense of security.
Lin, who arrived in Hong Kong from Toronto without a visa, talked to the local media after she was not allowed to board a plane to Sanya in Hainan Province, where the Miss World beauty contest is being held.
“What I feel particularly upset about is this big country can’t even take in a 25-year-old girl. This shows that the country does not have a sense of security. Don’t they have any confidence in their authority?” Lin said from Chek Lap Kok Airport on Thursday night.
“I’m a Canadian citizen. By Chinese law, I'm eligible to receive a landing visa upon arrival in Sanya. Because Hainan is a special place, a tourist place, Hainan has a different visa policy,” said Lin.
She said she explained this to airline staff when she was first prevented from boarding the plane, and had to wait for an answer from the Hainan province government on further steps regarding her visa.
I'm in Hong Kong, but the Chinese government has barred me from getting the next flight to Sanya for Miss World. #AfraidOfABeautyQueen
— Anastasia Lin (@AnastasiaLinTO) November 26, 2015
She waited from 10am to around 3.30pm, until she was granted a phone interview with an officer from the Hainan authorities.
She said the officer asked her several questions, including where she was born, her date of birth, when she moved to Canada and her Chinese name.
After I said my Chinese name is Lin Yefan, he went like ‘oh, okay...you are not eligible to receive a landing visa
“After I said my Chinese name is Lin Yefan, he went like ‘oh, okay...you are not eligible to receive a landing visa’,” said Lin.
She said the man told her “there was no reason given. You are just not eligible”.
Dragonair staff presented her a slip stating that “you are not eligible to board the plane”, without issuing an official copy to her. Lin claimed she took a photo of that paper, but she declined to show that photo when requested by the Post.
“I don’t see the point of denying me a visa ... I don’t see any threat that I would possibly pose to the security of a country,” said Lin.
While the opening ceremony of the beauty contest was on November 23, Lin has been waiting for an invitation letter from the Sanya government in order to let her apply for a visa to China.
Stating that she was not a member of any group but just a “practitioner of Falun Gong”, Lin was aware of the sensitivity of her identity.
I don’t see the point of denying me a visa...I don’t see any threat that would possibly pose to the security of a country
“It’s very sensitive. That’s part of the reason why the Chinese government is so afraid of me,” said Lin, referring to her relationship with the belief.
She said she did not know what to do next nor how long she was going to stay in Hong Kong. She said she needed a night to think about it.
Lin had been an outspoken critic of Chinese religious policy and a follower of the Falun Gong meditation sect, which was outlawed by the country's ruling Communist Party as an “evil cult” in 1999.
Authorities declined to comment for this story.