KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 — As rumours continue to swirl that Hong Kong celebrity Nicholas Tse will be blacklisted by Beijing for having dual citizenship, the 41-year-old revealed to the media that he was in the midst of renouncing his Canadian citizenship.

taiwannews reported Tse revealing in a CCTV 6 programme Blue Feather Reception Room that he was born in Hong Kong, China, so he is Chinese.

Asked about his loyalty to China, Tse said he had begun applying to renounce his Canadian citizenship.

Tse pledged that regardless of whether it's food, action movies, or music, he has a "sense of responsibility to spread these great things from our motherland to the whole world."

Tse's response came in the wake of reports last month that Chinese actress Vicky Zhao was suddenly scrubbed from Chinese online streaming sites and social media pages. 

Rumors had begun circulating on Chinese social media that seven famous Chinese actors with foreign citizenship had been placed on a "reorganisation list” by the National Radio and Television Administration.

Besides Tse, others on the list are Jet Li, Zhang Tielin, Crystal Liu Yifei, Will Pan, Wang Lee Hom, and Mark Chao. 

Li has Singaporean citizenship; Zhang is a British citizen; Liu, Pan, and Wang have American citizenship; and Tse and Chao have Canadian citizenship, according to the portal.

Tse was born in Hong Kong in 1980 before moving to Vancouver, Canada, with his parents in 1987, and currently holds dual Canadian and Chinese citizenship. 

He lived in Phoenix, Arizona, for one year before dropping out of high school as a sophomore and moving back to Hong Kong where he was discovered by a talent scout in 1997.