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Ai, activist Asians on Time's 'most influential'

Detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, the activist mayor of a tsunami-hit Japanese town, and South Korean singer Rain were listed among Time magazine's 100 most influential people Friday.

Campaigners made a strong showing among the 17 Asians on the global list, which the magazine said was themed around social media and activism.

But topping a separate reader poll was South Korean pop star Rain, as Time's online readers cast aside moguls and heads of state for the third year running in favour of the heartthrob and singer of "Hip Song".

"That's pretty impressive online power for a guy whose main claim to Western fame is a role in the 2009 film Ninja Assassin
," the magazine commented.

Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, detained in Beijing since April 3 on suspicion of "economic crimes" and whose whereabouts are unknown, appears in an entry unlikely to please the Chinese government.

Former US ambassador to China and longtime Ai supporter John Huntsman wrote in the magazine: "Ai Weiwei is the kind of visionary any nation should be proud to count among its creative class."

China's rising influence is also reflected in the listing of Charles Chao, founder of the web giant Sina-Weibo, journalist Hu Shuli, who started Caijing magazine, and media personality Hung Huang.

The country's vice president and leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping also makes the list -- but with a caveat.

"For the past 40 years, as the strength of the Chinese nation has risen, the power of its top leader has declined," warned veteran journalist Fareed Zakaria in a commentary.

Leading Myanmar dissident Aung San Suu Kyi is meanwhile described as an "Asian hero and global inspiration" in an entry written by exiled Chinese campaigner Wang Dan, a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

But also on the list appears Kim Jong-Un, bluntly described as North Korea's "tyrant in waiting" since his father and national leader Kim Jong-Il apparently named him as a successor. "He will be feared," the magazine predicted.

Taiwanese Dharma Master Cheng Yen, a Buddhist nun and charity founder, makes the list for her work in emergency relief and as a spiritual guide, with Time's Asia editor Zoher Abdoolcarim describing her as "a saint".

The disasters in Japan -- hit by a huge earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency in March -- brought onto the list two men who were anything but household names until the quake: Katsunobu Sakurai and Takeshi Kanno.

Sakurai, mayor of the Japanese town of Minamisoma, earns the title "Boat Rocker" for his decision two weeks after the disasters to release a passionate YouTube video calling for help for his town from the central government.

Local doctor Takeshi Kanno, who saved dozens of people at a public hospital by moving them to a high floor before the tsunami hit, joined him on the list.

23:07 | Labels: , , , |

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