By Jane Gray | November 4, 2015
Last Updated: November 4, 2015 10:48 am
Anastasia Lin spoke about her visa problems at an event held by the Henry Jackson Society in London on Nov. 3rd, 2015 (Si Gross/Epoch Times)
LONDON–A contestant for Miss World says that she has not been granted a visa for the finals of the event – due to be held in China – because of her outspoken views on human rights.
Anastasia Lin is Canada’s entrant for the beauty pageant and is of Chinese heritage. She has testified before the US congress on religious freedom in China and says that her family, who are still in China, have been threatened.
The 25-year-old Chinese-Canadian, who was born in China, was told by the visa application centre that the invitation letter she received from Miss World was not enough to guarantee she will be able to travel. She also needs a letter from a co-organization within China, a letter that she says all other contestants have received.
Lin revealed the problem at an event held by the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank, where she was booked to speak about human rights on Nov. 3rd. She did not expect to be talking about possible interference to her visa application to China.
“I called the organization in China and Miss World, they are not giving me any information. I asked to meet with Miss World, they said they don’t have time,” she said.
She doubts that it is purely a logistical issue.
“A lot of Western organizations will submit under the coercion of the soft power of China. They will not speak up, and they will do things that the [Chinese] government ask them to do.”
Anastasia Lin speaking at the event for the Henry Jackson Society (Si Gross/Epoch Times)
Lin won the title Miss World Canada under a banner of religious freedom and being a “voice for the voiceless”.
She has been particularly outspoken on behalf of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, which has been brutally persecuted in China since 1999.
Lin told the Guardian in August that she hoped to help stop the demonization of Falun Gong. “My aim is not to put an anti-China slogan on the stage. After all, it’s a beauty pageant.”
The Miss World organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is the first obstacle that Lin has faced in her visa application to China, but it is not the only difficulty she has had since being crowned Miss World Canada in May.
Her father was threatened by Chinese security forces because of his daughter’s human rights advocacy work. “Suddenly my dad told me to stop doing what I am doing,” Lin said in May.
“There are people listening in secret and our phones are being tapped”
— Anastasia Lin
“It was really scary at the beginning… The person who made me feel safe now is in danger. Afterwards he would chat on the phone, tell me he is in a meeting, and that happened to several other family members of mine. That continued for three months,” she said.
Although they now have normal phone conversations, Lin said her father becomes very nervous whenever she mentions anything about what she is doing.
“He knows there are people listening in secret and our phones are being tapped,” she said.
Yet it is this aggressive restriction of freedom of speech in China that fuels her human rights work.
“I have two weeks to get my visa, two weeks for these Chinese people to see my face, because it will be broadcast by CCTV,” she said. “For them it is an opportunity to see how the Western world celebrates a free mind. I am going back for them.”
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1891033-miss-world-canada-faces-china-visa-problems/
