China Says Bjork Broke The Law, Will Tighten Control Over Foreign Performers
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Music fans, politicians, officers of the law and freedom fighters are divided this week over issues raised by a Bjork concert in Shanghai last weekend. As I reported earlier this week, Bjork ended her concert in China with "Declare Independence" off her latest album, then chanted, "Tibet! Tibet!" 
Since then, there has been heavy news coverage, negative comments from fans and statements from both Bjork and the British organization, The Free Tibet Campaign. While The Free Tibet Campaign say they are delighted at Bjork's performance, the Chinese government is not at all pleased. A statement from China's Ministry of Culture, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency and published in Reuters today, claimed that Bjork's performance "not only broke Chinese laws and regulations and hurt the feelings of Chinese people, but also went against the professional code of an artist." The ministry went on to declare that the incident would be investigated and handled according to Chinese law, saying:
Since then, there has been heavy news coverage, negative comments from fans and statements from both Bjork and the British organization, The Free Tibet Campaign. While The Free Tibet Campaign say they are delighted at Bjork's performance, the Chinese government is not at all pleased. A statement from China's Ministry of Culture, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency and published in Reuters today, claimed that Bjork's performance "not only broke Chinese laws and regulations and hurt the feelings of Chinese people, but also went against the professional code of an artist." The ministry went on to declare that the incident would be investigated and handled according to Chinese law, saying:Any attempt to separate Tibet from China will definitely be opposed by the Chinese people and all righteous men across the world.Now China claims it will tighten its control over foreign singers, but it did not elaborate on how this would be accomplished.Freedom fighters, meanwhile, see it differently. This statement from The Free Tibet Campaign was also published in Reuters today:
She's shown more courage than politicians like (British Prime Minister) Gordon Brown and (British Foreign Secretary) David Miliband, whose public silence on these issues during recent trips to China is a source of shame for the British people.Read the full story on Reuters.com. Click the Bjork tag at the top of this post to follow the previous reports this week.
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