The Taiwanese flag appears prominently on the aviator coat of Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, aka Tom Cruise, in a scene from the new film Top Gun: Maverickan editorial situation that risks offending communist China.
Posted yesterday at 12:54 p.m.
This is reported by the media and agencies, including Bloomberg News, indicating that China risks reading in the presence of this flag a recognition of the independence of Taiwan, which it has always rejected.
On the contrary, China has always claimed the return of Taiwan to its fold. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there has also been talk that China could take advantage of the situation to take back the island by force.
In footage from the feature film released Thursday ahead of the long Memorial Day weekend in the United States, the flag of Taiwan sits prominently on the fighter pilot’s leather jacket, alongside that of the Japan, another country with which China has disputes.
According to the newspaper taiwan newsthe public would have reacted with joy when they saw the flag of Taiwan during a preview held in Taipei, the capital.
Photo taken from IMDB website
In an earlier version, presumably the original trailer for the film, the flags of Japan and Taiwan are replaced with neutral symbols.
In the past, the Hollywood industry has very often taken into account the sensitivity of the Chinese authorities by removing contentious symbols like the Taiwanese flag, but not this time, according to the text of Bloomberg News. Moreover, in a trailer dating from 2019 (the film was originally due to be released in the summer of 2020), the flags of Japan and China are replaced by neutral symbols.
The feature film grossed an estimated US$124 million for its opening weekend, a Memorial Day weekend record. Its release is not planned in mainland China.
In the film’s story, Maverick and young pilots go to destroy a uranium enrichment lab in an unfriendly country that may recall Russia without ever being named. On the other hand, Captain Michell indicates that he has already shot down Migs, a Russian-made aircraft.