On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, exiled Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan (王丹) said yesterday that the Internet was an area China was not able to control.
He said that although it might take a long time, the influence of the Internet had given him hope for the democratization of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Wang made the remarks during a conversation with researcher Lee Edwards at The Heritage Foundation in the US on Tuesday. In response to a question on how the younger Chinese generation looks at the Chinese democracy movement almost 20 years after the June 4 incident, Wang said this generation thinks differently from his generation, which placed more importance on ideology.
He said younger generations were more concerned about how to meet their material interests and were not concerned about ideological or impractical issues.
“Like everywhere else in the world, the younger generation shows more interest in money while the older generation values idealism. After the 1980s, materialism became the social mainstream and that had an impact on the younger generation,” Wang said.
But Wang said he was not disappointed with this phenomenon because at least the younger generation cared about its own interests. He said this mindset would lead to conflict between young people and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership as the latter fundamentally opposes basic individual rights.
Wang said the Internet could help young people understand the June 4 incident, adding that people cannot pin their hopes for the future of the Chinese democracy movement on the new CCP leadership.
“There are two Chinas now. One is the real and practical China, which is totally controlled by the CCP. The other China is a China based on the Internet,” Wang said. “That’s the base of the new social forces. It is the hope for civil society, and civil society is the hope for democracy.”
“It will take a long time, but at least I have seen the starting point,” Wang said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
Tasa Meng Corp (采盟), which runs Taiwan Duty Free, could be fined up to NT$1 million (US$30,737) after the owner and employees took center stage in a photograph with government officials and the returning Premier12 baseball champions at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday evening. When Taiwan’s national baseball team arrived home fresh from their World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 championship victory in Tokyo, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) was at the airport with Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to welcome back the team. However, after Hsiao and Tsai took a photograph with the team, Tasa Meng chairwoman Ku
RSS