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Miss World 2015: Canadian entry Anastasia Lin insists she won't 'give in to fear' after criticism of Chinese government

Anastasia Lin will not be able to compete after she criticised the Chinese government for its lack of religious freedoms

Rose Troup Buchanan
Saturday 19 December 2015 13:51 GMT
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Ms Lin still has family living in China who have faced pressure for her comments
Ms Lin still has family living in China who have faced pressure for her comments

As beauty queens from around the globe meet to compete in Miss World 2015 in China today, one representative won't be joining them.

Canada's entry, Anastasia Lin, was last month barred from entering the country after speaking out about its human rights record.

Now, Ms Lin has said she will not bow to the Chinese government's pressure to stop her criticism, despite threats on her family.

Ms Lin, who was born in China but who grew up with her mother in Vancouver, testified to the United States congress in July criticising the lack of religious freedom in China.

She misses this year’s competition after Chinese authorities declared her a “persona non grata” and denied her entry to China from Hong Kong but still has family in China – although her own father has severed ties with her after receiving threats because of her criticism.

“I thought about it [stopping her criticism] extensively,” she told the BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme. “My first reaction was – of course – to back down. It was too risky for my family and I really don’t know what the Chinese government would do.

“But then, after talking to people, people who had similar experiences, I thought that I can’t give in to fear and really the most effective way to protect my father is probably international attention.”

Ms Lin belongs to a minority spiritual group known as the Falun Gong, who were branded an “evil cult” by the government and outlawed in 1999. Human rights estimate more than 4,000 practitioners have reportedly died, after being detained in camps.

Having established herself as an outspoken advocate of human rights and religious persecution, Ms Lin has faced criticism from within her own community as well as from the Chinese government.

But, she insists she has no intention of backing down: “I won’t ever get a chance to speak up again.”

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