Timed to coincide with the national day of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), an online school aimed at promoting Chinese democracy was launched yesterday in Taipei by democracy activist Wang Dan (王丹).
The New School for Democracy’s first semester, which started yesterday and runs through January, offers six free Internet courses on the democratic movements in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the history of the PRC, China’s foreign policy, human rights and its implementation, the role of media in democracy, and a workshop on citizen journalism.
“Today [Oct. 1] was not a day to celebrate the founding of the PRC, but a national mourning day, because the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] regime has done more harm than good to the country,” Wang said at the opening ceremony.
Wang, one of the student leaders of the 1989 pro-democracy protest in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and who is now a visiting professor at Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University, said he hoped the online classes would reach out to many Chinese overseas.
Meanwhile, students in China are encouraged to use anti-censorship devices to “break the cyberwall,” Wang said, adding that they are the school’s “main targets among whom we want to sow the seeds of democracy.”
The initiative is the first-ever attempt at cooperation among civil groups from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and other countries, Wang said.
The younger generation and the Internet are indispensable to China’s road to democracy, and civil groups in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and overseas have to enhance cooperation so that students can turn theory into action rather than just learning, he said.
“[Former US president John F.] Kennedy once said: ‘Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.’ Here is what I want to say: Ask not what Chinese democracy can do for you; ask what you can do for Chinese democracy,” Wang said.
Andrew To (陶君行), a member of Hong Kong’s legislative council and chairman of the League of Social Democrats, said the school would not just serve as a platform for cyberdiscussion, but would promote “social movement” by establishing connections among activists worldwide.
Joseph Cheng (鄭宇碩), a political science professor at City University of Hong Kong who is the chancellor of the New School for Democracy, was also at the launch yesterday.
Dawa Tsering, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the de facto embassy of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Taiwan, expected the school to increase access to information for people in China.
“Authoritarian regimes are based on atrocity and lies. When people can freely access information, a false tale will betray itself,” Dawa said.
He added that he did not view China as a mighty country as some have said.
“No matter how far its material strength grows, it’s a country in spiritual vacuity. And its people are not respected because they lack freedom and a democratic system to safeguard liberty,” he said.
“From this point of view, pursuing democracy is an act of patriotism and democratization is the best gift for China,” Dawa said.
The school, first publicized in late May in Taipei, was registered in Hong Kong, with offices in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its funding comes mainly from donations from civil groups in Hong Kong, said Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元), a board member of the school.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
‘ILLEGAL RULING’: The KMT and the TPP slammed the Constitutional Court judgement, saying it contravened the law and was trying to clear the way for a ‘green dictatorship’ The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled that amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed by the Legislative Yuan last year are unconstitutional, as they contravene due legislative process and separation of powers. The Legislative Yuan on Dec. 20 last year passed amendments stipulating that no fewer than 10 grand justices must take part in deliberations of the Constitutional Court, and at least nine grand justices must agree to declare a law unconstitutional. The Executive Yuan on Jan. 2 requested that lawmakers reconsider the bill, but the Legislative Yuan, under a combined majority of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party
RSS