Speaking out about a recent run-in with Chinese government officials, Icelandic star Björk said pro-Tibetan comments she made from a stage in Shanghai have been exaggerated.

“When I said ‘Tibet, Tibet,’ I whispered it three times. There was no fuss in the room,” Björk told The Lipster.com in an interview slated to run on the site in April.

“It happened afterwards on websites,” she said. “It shows more than anything that China has become the next superpower in the world. And the issue is: how are they going to deal with Western moral issues like freedom of speech?”

Björk sparked controversy at a March 2 show in Shanghai when she reportedly chanted Tibet from the stage during the song “Declare Independence,” running afoul of the communist country’s strict censorship of pro-Tibetan speech.

China has ruled Tibet since 1951. Calls for Tibetan freedom from the stage are nothing new to North American audiences. Live Aid-style freedom concerts were staged in various U.S. cities from 1996 to 1999 and most recently in 2001.

posted [03.20.08]

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