Responding to recent headlines that government guards manhandled Bale in eastern China, a Foreign Ministry spokesman says it was the 'Dark Knight' actor who should feel embarrassed.
- December 22, 2011
AceShowbiz -
Christian Bale tried to visit a blind human rights activist who lives under house arrest in Eastern China recently when he was caught on tape being physically stopped by local guards. Days after his story made headlines, the leading man of "The Dark Knight Rises" was faced with criticism from the Chinese government.
On Wednesday, December 21, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin responded to the question whether China was embarrassed by the bad publication caused by the incident. In an official statement, he said, "If anyone should be embarrassed, it's the relevant actor, not the Chinese side."
Weimin further stressed that Bale was invited to the country by director Zhang Yimou to attend the premiere of "The Flowers of War". "But he was not invited to fabricate news or shoot films in a certain village," the government official added. "I think if you want to make up news in China, you will not be welcome here."
Earlier this month, CNN published a video that documented footage of Bale being manhandled by government guards in China. The actor was at the time attempted to visit Chen Ghuangcheng in the village of Dongshigu. Before he got to see the blind activist, he got shoved and dragged away by the guards.
When finally riding away from the village with the guards still in hot pursuit, the 37-year-old actor told the camera, "I'm not brave doing this. The local people who are standing up to the authorities, who are visiting Chen and his family and getting beaten or detained, I want to support them."
