A media mouthpiece of Beijing has thrown its support behind two Taiwanese singers who may face fines back home for their commitment to perform at a gala to mark the 71st anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Ouyang Nana and Angela Chang are under fire in Taiwan after their names appeared on a list of performers for the Oct. 1 gala, organized by state-run China Central Television. The Taiwanese pair are set to sing the pro-Beijing song “My Motherland” during the show.

They could be fined up to NT$500,000 (US$17,200) for violating Taiwan’s laws on cross-strait relations. Authorities had yet to decide whether to penalize them but were closely watching the matter, Taiwan’s culture minister Lee Yung-te said on Tuesday.

Across the Taiwan Strait, the two female singers are getting a very different reaction. In an article published Tuesday, the official People’s Daily said that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan was being “too crazy” in making a fuss over Ouyang and Chang’s planned performance in mainland China.

The article also cited remarks made by Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou in 2007. “As early as 2007, when the DDP first became the ruling party, Chou came under frenzied attacks from the pan-green [pro-independence] camp for saying that the Olympics would be held in his own country,” People Daily said in its overseas edition.

“Jay Chou said this long ago, ‘I am Chinese. Is it worth any discussion? I was born and raised in Taiwan. I am Taiwanese too’.”

Another hawkish mainland tabloid also weighed in. Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin wrote that Ouyang served as an example to show tense relations across the strait would hurt the interests of Taiwan artistes and businesspeople.

The best option for the Taiwanese would be to side with the “one China” principle as such a stance had won “overwhelming support instead of independence for Taiwan” across the globe, Hu said.

Ouyang on Monday did not respond to questions when she appeared at Beijing’s airport.

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