Eurovision Asia has long been talked about since its initial plans to launch in late 2018. And while news of the Asian iteration of the famed contest have since waned, producer Paul Clarke has made it clear that there’s still discussions and investors interested in its debut.

Wiwibloggs recently met with Clarke, who is Australia’s Head of Delegation at Eurovision and a producer with Blink TV – the team in charge of launching Eurovision Asia.

He recently headed up Australia’s inaugural national selection Eurovision: Australia Decides – with the televised national final met with much fanfare by both Australian and international audiences, and dubbed by many as the Melodifestivalen of the south.

Speaking exclusively with wiwibloggs, Clarke said there’s still interest in Asia, and the next steps for the contest will be decided in due course:

“There’s a lot discussions and a lot of potential investors in Asia. But I think where I made a mistake in Asia, is that I talked to people too early about it. And (at the same time) I talked about a national final – people said “Yeah… yeah… this is the guy who keeps promising.”

So well just go one step at a time and I’m really happy where our national final is, and well see where our next steps are.”

It’s not the first time plans for the contest have stalled, with former SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid stating back in October last year that organising the Asian contest is proving “too geo-politically difficult”.

While Kazakhstan was in rumoured early discussions to participate, talks between China, South Korea and Japan revealed a series of obstacles, including political tensions between the region’s three big music markets. Chinese law prohibits the broadcast or streaming of South Korean pop music and entertainment. Last year’s banning of Chinese broadcaster Mango TV from broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest also no doubt complicates matters.

And while rumoured swirled in October last year that Eurovision Asia was locked in for December 2019 on the Gold Coast, nothing is confirmed as of yet. No doubt Australia Decides was a good stepping stone to launching the Asian contest, with production of the national final rivalling the quality of the Eurovision Song Contest itself.

Are you still interested in a Eurovision Asia debut? Would you like to see the contest go ahead? Let us know in the comments below!