Detained human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) might be put on a human rights watch list to be presented during a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) later this year, following efforts by Lee’s wife to seek assistance at a US congressional hearing.
Weeks after her husband’s detention Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜) testified at a US House of Representatives committee hearing about his detention on Thursday last week.
“Changes were made to the past authoritarian regime in Taiwan because of international assistance,” said Lee Ching-yu, adding that international involvement in her husband’s case could pressure China into releasing him.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
“The US is only the first stop,” she said yesterday at a news conference in Taipei.
Lee Ming-che was detained after entering Zhuhai, China, from Macau on March 19. He used to work for the Democratic Progressive Party and is a staff member at Wenshan Community College in Taipei, as well as a volunteer at the non-governmental organization Covenant Watch.
US Representative Chris Smith has launched a petition about Lee Ming-che’s case and a signed request for his release by bipartisan members of the US Congress, might be delivered to Xi, said Taiwan Association for China Human Rights chairman Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏), who accompanied Lee Ching-yu to Washington.
TheUS Congress could put forward a list of human rights cases, which Trump would be urged to present to Xi during a summit in China, Yang said.
Lee Ming-che’s name would be on the list, Yang said.
Almost all human rights lawyers and activists arrested by Beijing in recent years have been tortured and drugged, and Lee Ming-che might be subject to the same inhumane treatment, he added.
Lee Ching-yu said the US had promised to ensure her personal safety because any harassment or threats made against her and others who testified at the hearing would be considered “a violation of US sovereignty,” she said, citing US Department of State Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director Laura Stone.
The US’ commitment to its sovereignty has highlighted Taiwan’s neglect of its sovereignty issue, Lee Ching-yu said, adding that the Straits Exchange Foundation at first refused to accept a report of her husband’s disappearance, asking her to report the case to Chinese authorities.
National Security Bureau Deputy Director Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) said in a legislative meeting in Taipei that “China could not arrest the wrong person,” which led Lee Ching-yu to ask if the government believed Lee Ming-che deserved his detention.
“Most Taiwanese do not understand human rights or even want to understand it, but how can we forget that [fighting for human rights] is precisely what empowered Taiwan to end the White Terror era and topple authoritarian rule?” she said.
Her attendance at the hearing in Washington was sanctioned by the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which stipulates that “the preservation and enhancement of the human rights of all the people on Taiwan are hereby reaffirmed as objectives of the US.”
The TRA has rarely been cited for human rights issues, and the government in Taipei should urge the US to honor its commitment to Taiwan under the act to secure participation at the World Health Assembly, she added.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
RSS