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‘Top Gun’ Fans Speculate That Taiwan and Japan Flags Were Scrubbed From Sequel To Appease China

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The Topline: Japanese and Taiwanese flag patches featured on Tom Cruise’s jacket in the original Top Gun film appear to have been removed from the Tencent-backed 2020 sequel, prompting fans to speculate that Paramount Pictures—set to release the movie—is the latest U.S. company to appease China and its campaign to deny Taiwan's sovereignty.

  • Chinese tech firm Tencent has a stake in the Top Gun: Maverick movie, with its Tencent Pictures subsidiary acting as “investor and co-marketer” of the film, set for release by Paramount Pictures next summer.
  • In the trailer for the sequel, Taiwan’s flag, which it is has used since 1949 (and which has not been used in the People’s Republic of China since the same year), has been replaced with an ambiguous patch featuring the same colors. The flag patch for Japan has been replaced with a red triangle on a white background.
  • Social media users spotted the missing patches, which had been featured in the 1986 original. One accused China of “soft power coercion”, while another user pointed out that the move might be a bid to get the film approved for play in China. The mainland does not have diplomatic relations with countries that officially recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state.

  • Users also speculated that China’s ruling Communist Party, which would approve Tencent’s investment, intervened to have the flags removed. Others concluded the patch change was meaningless, and rather a “running joke” for those in the NavyAir business.
  • Paramount had not responded to Forbes by the time of publication.

Key background: Taiwan separated from China in 1949 and has been self-governing since, but Beijing still views it as its territory and has embarked on a campaign to sway major international companies to switch diplomatic allegiances—including airlines Delta and United, as well as American Express and Marriott. Sino-Japanese relations have been tense over activity in the East China Sea, particularly a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China. The territory is claimed by Beijing but administered by Japan.

Tangent: Analysts expect China to overtake the U.S. as the world’s major film market in terms of box office revenue and audience numbers by 2020, according to a Deloitte report.

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