Beijing has Top Gun in its sights over Taiwanese flag

Tom Cruise sequel may be banned in lucrative Chinese market because of his character’s leather bomber jacket.

The Taiwanese and Japanese flags that were missing in the 2019 Top Gun sequel trailer, right, have reappeared in its Taiwan release. Picture: Supplied

Tom Cruise’s Top Gun sequel may be banned in the lucrative Chinese market because his character wears a leather jacket that features the Taiwanese flag.

The jacket, worn by Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, has divided Asian audiences since it appeared in the original 1986 film. When the trailer for Top Gun: Maverick was released online in 2019, some viewers noticed that the small Taiwanese and Japanese flags had disappeared and been replaced by innocuous symbols, leading to speculation that producers were appeasing China’s censors.

However, the two flags appear in the cut of the sequel released in Taiwan, and the news outlet Setn reported that audiences at an advance screening cheered and applauded at the sight of the jacket. The inclusion of the flags left “many Taiwanese viewers moved, surprised and delighted”, Setn said.

Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick. Picture: Supplied

The move has led to fears that Beijing, which lays claim to Taiwan and frowns on any suggestion of its statehood, will attempt to censor the film or will not license it in China.

It also raises the possibility that Hollywood has stopped pandering to the Chinese market, a practice that has been criticised by US politicians and rights activists.

“It is unprecedented,” Ho Siu Bun, a Hong Kong film critic, said of the differences between the trailer and cinema release. “Major film studios have never been shy about pandering to the Chinese market. And even if it is a simple scene, editing is very costly. So no one knows why they changed it back,” he told Vice World News.

Top Gun: Maverick has been a box office hit, grossing $US300 million worldwide. There is no release date for it in China, where only a few foreign films are permitted teach year.

It emerged last week that the Chinese technology giant Tencent had pulled out as an investor in the film. Citing unnamed sources, The Wall Street Journal reported that executives at Tencent feared Beijing would be angry about its affiliation with a film celebrating the US military.

From this week all programs, including drama series, films and cartoons, must be licensed before they can be shown on the internet in China.

The Times