A queue dispute at a Bangkok book fair has escalated into a diplomatic irritant between China and Thailand, after video of a Chinese woman being forcibly removed from a fan event spread across both countries' social platforms and drew a public intervention from Beijing's embassy in Bangkok.
The confrontation took place on 25 July at the International Novel Festival 2026, where Thai entertainment company GMMTV was hosting a fan gathering for the actor pairing known as JuniorMark. Three days later, the company is facing boycott campaigns from fan communities in both countries — for opposite reasons.
Uma enorme discussão entre fãs chinesas e tailandesas tem repercutido nas redes sociais após fãs chinesas se mobilizarem alegando que uma delas teria sido agredida por staffs da GMMTV: "Parem com a violência contra os fãs".
— BoysLove Hub (@hubboyslove) July 25, 2026
O caso ocorreu na manhã de hoje, na Tailândia, durante… pic.twitter.com/UQFNGx6kxs
What happened at the International Novel Festival
By the accounts circulating on Thai social media, the trouble began in the queue. Thai fans waiting for seats reported a Chinese attendee to organisers for cutting in line. Security staff spent roughly half an hour trying to resolve the situation before deciding to remove her from the venue.
Footage posted to X shows the crowd erupting in screams and cheers as she was escorted out. The situation then deteriorated: a separate clip shared by Thai Enquirer appears to show the woman kicking backwards at a guard, after which she was restrained. Video circulated widely in China shows staff grabbing her around the shoulders and neck and taking her to the ground while she filmed on her phone.
No court ruling or completed investigation has yet established what happened in what order, and the sequence remains contested.
Two competing accounts of the queue dispute
The factual dispute at the center of the row is narrow but consequential.
Thai fans say event rules allowed each person to hold only one seat, and that the woman had joined the line alongside her friend. On this account, she was asked to leave once, returned to her original spot, and the argument resumed from there. Some witness accounts shared online go further, alleging she removed another attendee's place-holding marker and substituted her own umbrella.
The version circulating on Chinese platforms is close to the inverse. The woman says she arrived at the venue around 6am, held her place using an umbrella in the standard way, and has photographs and chat records to prove it. She denies cutting the line and says her marker was moved by someone else.
Neither account has been independently verified. Both rest largely on participant testimony and short video clips.
GMMTV suspends a contracted guard — and satisfies no one
GMMTV issued a statement on 26 July that has since become the second front of the controversy. After an initial internal review, the company said security personnel had at points used force beyond what the situation required, and expressed regret over the incident.
Crucially, it added that the staff involved were contracted through an outside security firm rather than employed directly by GMMTV — while accepting responsibility for supervising everyone working its events. The guard has been suspended pending a full investigation. The company also denied online claims that it had pursued legal action against anyone involved, saying no complaint had been filed.
GMMTV said it operates no policy of discrimination by race or nationality, framing the episode as an individual dispute that should not be read as a stance toward fans of any country. It promised a review of event management and supervision procedures.
The statement landed badly on both sides. According to Bangkok Post and Thai PBS World reporting on 27 July, Thai users accused the company of moral cowardice, arguing the videos show a fan breaking the rules and that GMMTV was protecting future revenue from the Chinese market. The hashtag #แบนGMMTV — "boycott GMMTV" — climbed on X as users kept recirculating clips.
The nationalist turn — and the pushback
The dispute quickly outgrew the incident itself. Some Chinese online communities called for a boycott of travel to Thailand and an end to supporting Thai performers. Fan communities organized: JuniorMark's Chinese fansites announced a suspension of all support activity pending what they called a complete and sincere resolution, and fanbases for 16 GMMTV artists in China issued a joint statement on 27 July calling for equal treatment of international fans regardless of nationality.
Not all Chinese commentary followed that line. A visible minority argued against drawing conclusions from decontextualized clips, and against generalizing from one person's behavior to an entire country.
Thai users made a parallel argument from the other direction. Responding to accusations that Chinese fans were being singled out, one widely shared post countered that anyone doing this would be criticized — and that a Thai person cutting the line would likely have been attacked more harshly.
Beijing's embassy steps in as the row escalates
On 27 July, the Chinese Embassy in Thailand confirmed it had received an account from the citizen involved and had noted GMMTV's admission that excessive force was used. It urged the relevant parties to establish the facts promptly and handle the matter appropriately, and said it would provide consular assistance within its remit.
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For now, the investigation is unfinished, the suspended guard's status is unresolved, and both fan communities are waiting to see what GMMTV does next.
