TV Talk Show in Netherlands: "Don't go to China"

On February 19th, 2008, the host of the popular local talk show Pauw & Witteman (which is shown on Channel 3 of the National Dutch Television Station) said that the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular received obstruction from the Chinese embassy, nevertheless the show went on.

Hosts of the Pauw &Witteman TV talk show

Guests invited to take part in the talk show included the most famous comedian in the Netherlands, Erik van Muiswinkel. Van Muiswinkel promoted a "Don't go to China" song in the Netherlands together with lyric writer Jeroen van Meermijk. The name of the song is "China Song," and is sung by a famous four-person group.

The lyrics of the song:

We will not go to China
even if it is to see a performance
things happening in that country are too cruel.
Before you are aware of it, you would be thrown into a forced labour camp to make T shirts.
The Olympic Village is a beautiful place,
What is regrettable is that you can often hear the screaming from torture in the distance...
We will not go to China, until China as a whole obtains freedom.
We will not go to China, even if it is to participate in sports.

Van Muiswinkel said if we go to China, it will mean that we condone the things that take place there. Our mission is to stand up for the moral standards and values that we in the west have known about and adhered to over the past 200 to 300 years, such as the rule of law. Going to China without considering this is simply unacceptable.

Van Muiswinkel said the he urges athletes not to take part in the Olympic Games because they are the sole candidates able to send a clear signal. If an athlete can hold a press conference in China talking about the persecution in China, that would be great. No matter what the situation it is only a matter of time before the Chinese Communist Party collapses.

He said that in the performance presented by Divine Performing Arts in The Hague, some of the performers are Falun Gong practitioners. The Chinese Embassy made concerted attempts to interfere with the performance and to shut it down. Luckily, they were unsuccessful in their attempts.