TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Indian news anchor Palki Sharma Upadhyay has given her take on the cutting of Taiwanese Digital Minister Audrey Tang’s (唐鳳) video feed at the U.S.' Summit for Democracy, saying the incident is “beyond parody.”
The incident saw Tang’s video cut, leaving only audio, after her presentation which included a color-coded map showing Taiwan in a different color than China, which according to sources cited by Reuters was because of the sensitivity surrounding the U.S.' “one China” policy.
In a video released on Tuesday (Dec. 14), the WION host lambasts the U.S. government for its hypocrisy and laments the overall irony of censoring a democracy like Taiwan at a democracy summit.
“The United States — a self-proclaimed torchbearer of democracy — censored another democracy at a summit meant for democracies,” she says before pausing. “This story is beyond parody.”
“What makes this worse, is that Audrey Tang’s presentation was on ‘digital authoritarianism’... beat that,” she says dryly.
Upadhyay then plays back the video feed from the conference, showing viewers how Tang’s video was cut. She then goes on to read excerpts from a Reuters report that reveal the video was taken down at the “behest of the White House.”
“To put it simply, America got scared,” she says. “It has embarrassed itself on so many levels with this one.”
Upadhyay goes on to ridicule the Biden administration’s hypocrisy in wanting to needle China by inviting Taiwan and yet not having the guts to go all the way and let Tang fully participate. She ends by posing the question of whether the U.S. can be trusted to defend Taiwan from invasion if it will not even let Taiwan show itself on a map.
The video has racked up over 100,000 views within its first day of posting. Some of the most up-voted comments include:
“Palki has more balls than all the men in the Whitehouse.”
“I am a US citizen and I am embarrassed by my country's actions during this summit.”
“As an American, this is embarrassing. Why invite Taiwan if you don't want them there?”
