GEORGE TOWN – The 26th edition of the World Congress on Innovation and Technology (WCIT) drew to a close today, but not before it was marred when a Taiwanese beauty contestant was prohibited from carrying her country’s national flag before an audience at a welcoming dinner here.
While the organisers had feverishly worked to clarify the incident as an oversight, damage had already been done. Penang, as the host state, found itself drawn into the centre of the diplomatic storm between China and Taiwan, at least just for a day.
On Tuesday night, some 40 participants of the Miss Asia Global beauty pageant’s grand finals were scheduled to grace the catwalk at the welcoming dinner for WCIT delegates.
Among them was Miss Asia Global Taiwan 2022, Kao Man-jung.
The lanky beauty was pictured in tears as the other contestants strutted on the stage to the applause of the audience of some 3,000 people.
Taiwan is regarded by China as just part of the Fujian province after a civil war raged between 1945 and 1949 in the most populated nation in the world.
In the interest of placating China, many countries, including Malaysia, have accepted its “One China” policy, although they maintain socio-economic, cultural and sporting ties with Taiwan.
The WCIT event’s organising chairman, Sean Seah, reasoned that since Malaysia follows the One China policy and since this was a national event, the congress was obliged to abide by it.
However, some travel trade members here said that the beauty catwalk should not have been brought into the evening’s event, as the congress is focussed on information communication technology.
“It is a rather embarrassing moment,” said one member who declined to be named.
“We hope the organisers of the beauty pageant can move on and have a great final. They need to overcome this unfortunate circumstance.”
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has refrained from commenting on the incident.
He announced at the closing ceremony that many memoranda of understanding were inked.
Among them was between Angkasa Malaysia and Ideal Properties Group to develop an “angkasa” (outer space) city in Penang.
The state government disclosed it is helping the private sector to venture into space-related initiatives as part of its drive towards embracing technology.
It will also look into offering a site to develop the country’s first autonomous vehicle.
Chow said that WCIT was a success, as it drew 4,000 participants from 60 countries and economies while 11,000 job opportunities were created.
The WCIT is an annual flagship event of the world body of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance. – The Vibes, September 15, 2022
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