Isabella ²⁷

i-dle's YUQI is the newest brand ambassador for CHAGEE.

Some important context regarding YUQI's recent Weibo post: YUQI reposted a statement from Xinhua, China's state news agency. She copy-pasted the hashtags and wording from the official message and didn't write this herself. Today is the 160th birth anniversary of Sun Yat-sen. Many Chinese celebrities shared very similar messages today. It's also important to understand the political environment in China. Celebrities face significant pressure to publicly show loyalty to the government and staying silent on certain political matters can lead to backlash or consequences. Reposting government messages is very common. This isn't her first political repost either. She's been sharing Chinese state media content for a long time, including posts related to the Communist Party. Pre-orders for her Chinese album also started today, so it's possible that there was even more pressure than usual. We don't know her personal beliefs or the circumstances behind her reposting it. The same goes for her relationship with SHUHUA. They've known each other for a decade and we have no idea what they've discussed privately or how they feel about this situation. Assuming their relationship has suddenly changed isn't our place since we don't know them. This also doesn't mean YUQI is leaving i-dle or moving her career permanently to China. YUQI herself said last year that if making money was her only priority, she would've already gone to China and that continuing to do what she loves with the girls was one of the reasons she renewed. We should trust her own words more than a political repost. It's understandable that fans, especially Taiwanese fans, may feel disappointed by the repost and they have every right to, but we should also be careful not to turn assumptions about her personal beliefs, her friendships or i-dle's future into facts and just assume the worst. This wouldn't be helpful to anyone.