New Resident Evil Movie Is Now Marred By Japanese-Chinese Political Tensions


Resident Evil: Retribution might be a Hollywood movie, but it’s based on a Japanese video game. One of the places it takes place is, well, Tokyo. Yet, the actress who plays RE character Ada Wong now wants nothing to do with Japan.

Ada Wong actress Bingbing Li did not show at the recent Tokyo premiere for Resident Evil: Retribution. According reports out of Hong Kong, there was speculation that the actress was protesting the dispute between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands (also known as the Daioyu Islands).

According to Li’s agent, the actress was busy in Shanghai and unable to attend. She had apparently known about the premiere for two months beforehand. What’s more, her agent did not deny that politics were involved, saying, “We are in line with our government — the Diaoyu Islands belong to China. Bingbing will be attending movie premieres held in other places across the world and she skipped the Tokyo leg only.”

There are other reports that the actress has also requested that her image be edited out of the Resident Evil: Retribution posters for promotional use in Japan. You can see an unedited English language version below.

Why stop at posters? Why not ask to be edited out of the entire movie?

尖閣問題で中国女優が「バイオハザード5」の日本試写会を欠席 [Yahoo!]

Li Bingbing pulls out of Tokyo movie premiere [China.org]

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