Hundreds of Hong Kong journalists, lawmakers and residents marched yesterday to protest the alleged police beatings of three reporters covering recent unrest in western China, and demanded a government investigation.
Demonstrators wearing black rallied outside a police station before marching to local offices of China’s central government.
Organizers and police estimated the crowd at 650 to 700 people.
“This time the authorities are over the line,” Mak Yin-ting (麥燕婷), chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, told the gathering. “They did not only beat reporters, but blamed them for inciting the public disorder.”
The TV journalists were covering the aftermath of a mass protest by the majority Han Chinese in the troubled city of Urumqi earlier this month after a series of needle attacks that China’s government blames on Muslim separatists.
The three journalists, who worked for TVB and Now TV news outlets in Hong Kong, said they were kicked, punched and shoved to the ground by police before being detained for about three hours.
However, Xinjiang authorities who investigated the matter have said security personnel repeatedly asked the reporters to leave before they were detained and faulted the reporters for “instigating” the unrest — allegations the reporters’ companies say are false.
“We condemn the cruel treatment in no uncertain terms,” said Tom Mitchell, president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong.
Attempts to reach central government representatives in Hong Kong were unsuccessful, and phone calls to the information office of the regional government in Xinjiang rang unanswered.
Unlike mainland China, the former British colony is promised Western-style civil liberties and is home to a vibrant press known for its aggressive, uncensored coverage of the rest of China.
Hong Kong lawmakers, including members of the territory’s pro-Beijing party, have also criticized Xinjiang authorities and made public pleas for Beijing’s intervention.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS