Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office expressed strong opposition Sunday via the China News Service to Kaohsiung's decision to screen the documentary during the Kaohsiung Film Festival slated for Oct. 16-29.

The documentary by Australian director Jeff Daniels, screened at the Melbourne Film Festival in July, features the life of Kadeer, her fearless fight for the human rights of her people - a Muslim minority living in western China - and how her campaign embroiled her 11 children.

Kadeer has been branded by Beijing as a terrorist for allegedly having plotted riots that took place in the city of Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang Province.

Speaking at a session at the Kaohsiung City Council that day, Chen said she respects the Kaohsiung Film Festival organizers' professionalism in selecting the films to be screened at the festival, and added that the Kaohsiung city government does not make selection decisions, no matter what attitude Beijing adopts on the issue.

"It would be detrimental to Kaohsiung City - a city of freedom and human rights - if we were to block the documentary because of Beijing's opposition," Chen said.

Addressing concern in the city's tourism sector that controversy surrounding the screening of the film might undermine business, since tourists from China have become one of the major sources of Kaohsiung's foreign tourists, the mayor urged hotel operators not to put all their eggs in one basket.

"Taiwan's tourism cannot rely solely on China, " said Chen, a heavyweight of the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Meanwhile, a group of city hotel operators sponsored a news conference that same day to demand that the film be pulled, complaining that there had already been a sudden drop in room occupancy rates because Chinese tourists have been cancelling their bookings as a result of the planned screenings.

In related news, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said Beijing has once again demonstrated its belligerence against Taiwan by trying to interfere with the showing of a film in Taiwan.

The Kuomintang government should step forward to prevent Beijing's oppression, she said.

"There are no political motives behind the documentary or the screening itself. It is the harsh statement by China's Taiwan Affairs Office on the matter that is ideological and that is soiling cross-Taiwan Strait relations," she claimed.

China also tried all possible means to block the showing of the documentary at the Melbourne Film Festival in Australia July 24-Aug. 9, lodging an official protest with the festival organizers and withdrawing all films produced in China and Hong Kong from the festival.