The 59th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was on Monday, which was also the 28th anniversary of the Kaohsiung Incident. Taiwan has evolved from being ruled by a dictatorial regime that declared martial law and violated human rights into a democratic state that protects human rights.
But there is still the threat that Taiwan's human rights will be violated by China. The public must come to realize the importance of establishing Taiwan's status as a sovereign country for the protection of the human rights of Taiwanese.
Sovereignty means that a country has absolute and unlimited power within its own borders and that other countries cannot interfere with its national affairs. In democratic countries, that power rests with the people. Hence, there is a close relationship between sovereignty and human rights.
If sovereignty over a territory falls into the hands of a dictatorial or a foreign regime, human rights are no longer protected by democracy and lose their foothold. If the sovereignty of a country is not firmly established, or is threatened, the fate of the public can easily become dominated by other countries. Loss of sovereignty is a grave threat to human rights.
Sovereignty is the fundamental right of a country, and other countries must respect this right. This means national sovereignty should include the right to exist, the right to independence and the right to equality, as laid down in the Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Nations that the American Institute of International Law adopted in 1916. These rights are closely related to the individual rights of every citizen of a country.
If a country loses its sovereignty, it can become a colony or tributary to another country. When the inhabitants of a country lose their voting rights, their human rights disappear.
Taiwan used to be a colony of the Netherlands and it has also been occupied by Japan. During these periods Taiwan had no national sovereignty, and therefore no human rights to speak of. The Taiwanese have had their fill of not having national sovereignty and having their human rights infringed upon.
Because the national sovereignty of Taiwan is not yet formal, it does not have the recognition and respect of other countries. Abroad, Taiwanese people are often not respected.
Taiwanese fishing boat crews are sometimes detained when they come too close to Southeast Asian countries and are subjected to unfair punishment because the Taiwanese government does not have the power to come to their rescue. This shows once more that if the national sovereignty of a country is not recognized or respected, this can result in human rights violations.
Taiwan's sovereignty has not yet gained international recognition and respect. Our sovereignty -- including the rights to exist, independence, equality, jurisdiction over its own territory and self-defense -- is being threatened, and the human rights of Taiwan's citizens are suffering from the consequences.
China is using all means possible to strip Taiwan of what national sovereignty it now has and to achieve its goal of annexing Taiwan.
This would be an even greater disaster for the human rights of the Taiwanese. Hence, establishing Taiwan's independence and full sovereignty is extremely important for the protection of the human rights of the Taiwanese.
It would be an important step for the protection of human rights in Taiwan, and a great contribution to international human rights, if Taiwan could become a member of the UN and be established as a normal state.
Lee Sheng-hsiung is chairman of Amnesty International Taiwan.
Translated by Anna Stiggelbout
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS