The red-carpet treatment that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) will receive in Beijing will be nothing more than window dressing by the Chinese Communists as a "united front" against Taiwan, democracy activist Wang Dan (王丹) said on Saturday.
Wang, a leader of the pro-democracy student protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989, said that another reason that China will be falling over itself to embrace the KMT delegation is to curry favor with Washington, which has long advocated that cross-strait issues be resolved peacefully or via dialogue.
In a speech delivered to a group of overseas Chinese in Los Angeles, Wang suggested that Lien, who is scheduled to embark on his self-styled "journey of peace" to China tomorrow, should make it clear to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) that change must come to the China's political regime, including democratization and freedom of speech. Lien must also speak on behalf of Taiwan to protect Taiwan's long-term interests, he said.
Wang, a Harvard University doctoral candidate who is currently on a research project on the West Coast, said that even if the KMT chairman signs an agreement with his Beijing hosts, it would be "just rubbish," given the true colors of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Noting that every written accord that the KMT and the CCP reached in the past ended up in the trash can of history, Wang, a history major at Peking University before the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, said that the CCP is untrustworthy and not interested in matters that only benefit others.
Wang, the founder of the Chinese Constitutional Reform Association in the US, has visited Taiwan many times since his visit trip in March 1999. He was in Taipei in January 2003 to launch his two new books written in Chinese -- one a collection of poems and the other a work of prose -- both published by Taipei's Locus Publishing Co.
He was in Taipei again in July 2003 for six weeks at the invitation of the Taipei City Government as an artist-in-residence.
Wang was jailed in July 1989 for his part in the pro-democracy demonstration and was released in February 1993. He was arrested again in October 1996 and sentenced to a further 11-year prison term.
In April 1998, he was released on parole on medical grounds and permitted to travel to the US for treatment -- a move that effectively sent him into exile.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as