Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday lauded Taiwan’s religious diversity and tolerance as the nation prepared to host an international cross-religious forum on religious freedom in the Asia-Pacific region later this week.
The first Asia-Pacific Religious Freedom Forum, which Lu is chairing, is to run from tomorrow through Sunday in Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅).
The forum is jointly hosted by several groups in the US and Taiwan, including US-based Christian human rights organization China Aid, US-based watchdog Freedom House, the Democratic Pacific Union — a non-governmental organization founded by Lu to promote democracy, peace and prosperity — and the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
With the stated aims of promoting religious freedom and facilitating cooperation among world leaders on human rights issues, the forum is to bring together a total of 99 parliamentarians, government representatives and religious leaders from 26 nations.
Among the invited guests are US Commission on International Religious Freedom Chair Katrina Lantos Swett, Member of the European Parliament Bastiaan Belder, Pakistani National Assembly Member Asiya Nasir, Freedom House president Mark Lagon, World Evangelical Alliance secretary-general Efraim Tendero and International Campaign for Tibet president Matteo Mecacci.
At a news conference at the legislature yesterday afternoon, Lu expressed her gratitude to the US for choosing Taiwan as the location for the significant forum and regarding the nation, which is home to 28 different religions, as a beacon of religious freedom.
“Religion is often the cause of conflicts or even wars in many countries. The world’s worst nightmare at the moment is terrorism, which in essence revolves around the longstanding conflict between Islam and Christianity,” Lu said.
Lu said many religions in Taiwan have joined together in support of the forum, ranging from Taoism and Christianity, to I-Kuan Tao and the nation’s newest religion, Weixinism, which she said demonstrates harmony and solidarity among the nation’s various religions.
In addition to the forum itself, Lu said participants are also due to jointly present the Taiwan Declaration for Religious Freedom to the world on Friday, pledging that Taiwan would continue to play an active and meaningful role on the international stage, particularly in promoting religious freedom.
However, the upcoming forum has been overshadowed by difficulties by some invitees in securing a visa to Taiwan.
China Aid vice president Kody Kness said that as of yesterday, nine attendees from nations including Bangladesh, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Pakistan and Nepal are still waiting for approval of their visa applications, including former Pakistani National Assembly member Johnson Michael.
“It is important that attendees from these countries attend and receive our full support to advance democracy and human rights in these countries,” Kness said.
Asked if there are any invitees who would not attend the forum because their visa applications were impeded, Kness named World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠) and Tibetan Government-in-Exile Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay.
Lu said she regretted that the trio were unable to participate in the forum, urging the new legislature to voice their concerns to the government for infringing on their human rights.
“Last week, the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the de facto representative office of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in Taiwan, told us that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration had informed it through an unofficial channel that it would be inconvenient for the government to allow [Sangay] to visit Taiwan,” Lu said.
“We deeply, deeply regret such a decision,” Lu said.
In response, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said foreign citizens ineligible for visa-free entry or an electronic visa who are invited to attend an international meeting in Taiwan should apply online for e-visas using an “Ecode” provided by the ministry’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, which is issued upon receipt of an official request by a central government agency.
“After such applications are filed, Taiwanese consulates and embassies in concerned countries will decide whether to approve the application,” Wang said, adding that the Taoyuan City Government forwarded the Ecodes to host organizations on Feb. 4.
Wang said of the 10 attendees who received the Ecodes, four had been granted an e-visa as of yesterday.
One of them abandoned his application, because the information he provided was inaccurate, while five attendees have yet to fill out their application online, Wang said.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4