Geopolitics Looms Over Eurovision, but Not Its Asian Edition

Detailed summary

So far, the contest’s organizers have kept politics offstage. The European edition shows how difficult that can be.

Geopolitics have long intruded on the Eurovision Song Contest. But they were not really a factor as the event prepared to expand into Asia for the first time.

That was still true as of Saturday evening, as the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia was about to start in Bangkok.

Over the decades, Eurovision organizers have insisted that the contest is nonpolitical. Its organizers impose rules governing lyrics, political symbols and what can be broadcast. Even so, wars and diplomatic disputes have shaped who gets to sing, who stays home and what broadcasters are willing to air.

“Politics is why we watch Eurovision,” said Dean Vuletic, a historian of the show at the University of Luxembourg.

Here are some examples of geopolitics bleeding into the European edition of the contest:

The 11 Asian countries that sent artists to Saturday’s show have plenty of offstage geopolitical friction.

Cambodia, for example, is set to sing in Thailand’s capital less than a year after a border war between the two neighbors killed dozens and displaced hundreds of thousands. As fighting picked up last year, Cambodia withdrew its athletes from the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, citing safety concerns.

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