Luke Skywalker
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Miss World Canada Anastasia Lin looks on during a press conference in Hong Kong on Nov. 27, 2015.(Photo: EPA)
WASHINGTON, D.C.--<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The 2015<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Miss World competition<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is happening on Dec. 19<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in China, but Canada's representative Anastasia Lin won't be there because she's barred from the pageant.
And she won't be watching on television, either.
“There was no official explanation,” Lin said, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Friday.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“I think the Chinese government was going to pretend I didn’t exist and hope I went away.”
The model and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>actress, 25, has been vocal about Chinese political repression and poor human rights record. For those<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reasons, she was denied a visa to compete at this year's international competition, she says.
In late November, she says when she decided to "try her luck" to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>board<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a plane<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to Sanya in Hainan<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Province, China,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>where the Miss World beauty contest is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>being held, she wasn't allowed. Canadian tourists are eligible for landing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>visas in Sanya.
Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail<span style="color: Red;">*</span>quoted a statement<span style="color: Red;">*</span>from the Chinese embassy in Ottawa that "China does not allow any persona non grata to come to China."
Lin is the leading actress in Bleeding Edge, which focuses<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on organ harvesting in China. she says she takes on roles that shed light on life in China.
“I want to stay true to my conscious and portray these people’s stories,” Lin said.
The last time she had contact with her father, who still lives in the country, was when she went to Hong Kong in late November.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Her father had been intimidated by the Communist Party, Lin says.
Lin spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., about being barred from the international beauty pageant hosted in China on Dec. 18, 2015.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Jessica Durando, USA TODAY)
“They put fear into my father to make him afraid of his own daughter,” Lin said. "The smear campaign going on in Chinese media against me reminded him of the Cultural Revolution. I am afraid. My mother is afraid. My father is afraid."
What keeps her going in her<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fight of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>speaking up<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for human rights?
“Silence is not the solution,” Lin said. "It becomes clear, I can not give in to fear."
Photos: Closer look at Anastasia Lin
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