The Presidential Office on Thursday expressed gratitude for the European Parliament’s support for Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who has been detained in China for more than three months on charges of subversion of state power.
“We’re very grateful for all the international assistance on the case,” Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said in response to the adoption of a resolution on Thursday by the European Parliament that called for Beijing to release Lee.
Lin also repeated a call for the Chinese authorities to “cautiously deal with Lee’s case in a civilized way” and to let him come home as soon as possible.
Earlier in the day, members of the European Parliament discussed the cases of Lee and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) and during a plenary session passed a resolution calling for Beijing to release the two.
Lee — a former Democratic Progressive Party worker, a staff member at Wenshan Community College in Taipei and a volunteer at local non-governmental organization (NGO) Covenants Watch — was detained by China after entering Zhuhai via Macau on March 19.
Taiwan has repeatedly urged Beijing to release Lee, but to no avail.
Lee’s case has sparked concern from local and international human rights groups.
The European Parliament called on Beijing to immediately release Liu as well as his wife from house arrest, and allow him to seek medical treatment wherever he wishes, according to a statement issued by the parliament.
“The human rights activist has been imprisoned since 2009 for cowriting a manifesto known as Charter 08, calling for fundamental reforms and is being denied to move outside China for treatment of his late-stage liver cancer,” the statement said.
The statement said that the parliament is highly concerned by China’s “continued efforts to silence civil society actors” with the help of new laws on state security, counterterrorism, cybersecurity and foreign NGO management.
The parliament urges the EU to continue raising the issue of human rights violations in its dialogues with Beijing and to force China to live up to its international human rights commitments, the statement said.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
ONE LAST TALK: While Xi said that Taiwan was a ‘red line,’ Biden, in what is likely his last meeting with Xi as president, called for an end to China’s military activity around Taiwan China’s military intimidation and economic coercion against Taiwan are the main causes of tensions that are destabilizing peace in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei said yesterday while thanking US President Joe Biden for expressing Washington’s firm stance of maintaining peace and stability in the region. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met on Saturday for their third meeting and their first talks in seven months on the sidelines of the APEC forum in Lima, Peru. It was likely Biden’s last meeting as president with Xi. During their conversation, Biden reiterated the US’ opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” from either
Taiwan would participate in the 2026 APEC summit to be hosted by China after Beijing promised it would ensure the personal safety of attendees, Taiwanese national security sources said yesterday. The APEC Leaders’ Machu Picchu Declaration announced yesterday said that China would host the APEC summit in 2026. Beijing proposed hosting the summit shortly before this year’s gathering began on Friday, a national security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Many APEC members expressed concerns about China hosting the event and said that prior communication over the decision was insufficient, the official said. Taiwan brought up concerns about legal “guidelines” China announced in
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