Human rights and social activist Lynn Miles, a well-known fighter for Taiwanese democracy, died early yesterday morning at a hospice in New Taipei City.
The 72-year-old American, also known by his Chinese name Mei Hsin-yi (梅心怡), had been suffering from mesothelioma, a cancer linked to asbestos that attacks the membrane lining of the lungs and abdomen, for several months, and spent the past few weeks at the Tzu Chi General Hospital in Xindian District (新店). He died at 1:30am.
Miles first came to Taiwan in 1962 to study Chinese. He became friends with people such as National Taiwan University professor Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) and writer Li Ao (李敖), and in 1967, he and a German friend, Klaus-Peter Metzke, opened The Barbarian (野人咖啡室) cafe in Ximending, where people could meet and exchange ideas.
Photo: Liu Li-jen, Taipei Times
He helped Peng, who, along with two of his students, had been convicted for publishing a manifesto calling for the overthrow of the Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) regime, escape house arrest and flee the nation for exile in Sweden in 1970.
The Chiang government deported Miles the following year, after he tried to help Li and Peng’s two students after they were arrested. The government blacklisted him from returning to Taiwan until 1996.
Miles moved to Osaka, Japan, where he continued his pro-democracy efforts for Taiwan, establishing the International Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Taiwan. The committee helped smuggle information about political prisoners out of Taiwan and Miles wrote reports on the political situation and the prisoners, and provided them to Amnesty International and other rights groups, reporters and churches.
Photo: Hsieh Wen-hua, Taipei Times
He spent several years in the US before returning to Taiwan once the blacklist was lifted.
He received permanent residency in Taiwan in 2006 for his “special contributions to the nation” and in recent years taught at Fu Jen Catholic University.
The New Jersey native continued to be a familiar face at protests over rights issues and spoke out on a variety of issues, including efforts to end the death penalty in Taiwan, and organizing several Peacefests. He burned his US passport in front of the American Institute in Taiwan in Taipei on March 23, 2003, to protest the US-led war in Iraq.
He coauthored with Linda Gail Arrigo a book about the human rights movement in Taiwan, A Borrowed Voice: Taiwan Human Rights through International Networks, 1960-1980, which was published in 2008.
In February, Miles was among 119 people indicted by Taipei prosecutors for taking part in Sunflower movement-linked rallies in Taipei in the spring of last year against the government’s handling of a cross-strait service trade agreement.
As Miles’ health worsened in recent weeks, several prominent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members visited him at the hospital, including DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), while a Peacefest to celebrate his life was held on May 30.
Tsai, who is currently on a trip to the US, mourned Miles’ death.
“Leaning about his passing away is a very saddening thing,” Tsai said in a statement on her official Facebook page. “As an American, he has always been a good friend of Taiwan, who long assisted Taiwan in democratization, and sincerely hopes that the Taiwanese people could live in freedom and democracy.”
She called Miles a witness of a time.
“From undemocratic to democratic, it is because of many friends like him who took actions to support us that Taiwan is able to become democratized in the end,” Tsai said. “May he rest in peace, and may he be free of all pains.”
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS