March 7, 2008 13:50

China to 'tighten control' on foreign bands

State to crack down on bands after Bjork outburst

Chinese officials have vowed to tighten control on foreign artists playing gigs in the country following Bjork’s recent onstage outburst in Beijing.

During a recent gig in the Chinese city, the Icelandic singer made a vocal show of support for freedom in Tibet, a subject considered taboo in China.

Since the outburst, China’s culture ministry has condemned her actions and pledged to take action to prevent such future outbursts.

A statement on the Chinese culture ministry website said that Bjork’s actions had “broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people's feelings”, and that as a result the organisation would take action to “further tighten controls”.

The statement continued: “We will further tighten controls on foreign artists performing in China in order to prevent similar cases from happening in the future. We shall never tolerate any attempt to separate Tibet from China and will no longer welcome any artists who deliberately do this.”

A spokesperson for the ministry told AFP News that the organisation would consider banned Bjork from the country in the future. “If Bjork continued to behave like that in the future, we may consider never allowing her to perform in China,” she said.