The Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG) announced plans yesterday to send a "human-rights torch" around the world and called for a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to condemn human-rights abuses in China.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator William Lai (賴清德), president of CIPFG's Asian chapter, said individuals or organizations that support the protest will be able to sign up online to welcome the torch.
The torch relay plan was simultaneously announced in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong yesterday, Lai said.
"So far, organizations or individuals in dozens of cities across five continents have signed up to welcome the torch," he said. "We assure you that, at the very minimum, the torch will pass through as many cities across the five continents."
A detailed route and itinerary will be announced later, he said.
A Chinese Falun Gong practitioner told reporters at the press conference that her children are still being harassed in China because of her beliefs.
Nie Shuwen (
"Although I escaped the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party, they often harass my children in Shanghai," Nie said.
Organ harvesting in China was another topic discussed at the news conference.
"The purpose of organ donation technology is to help people, but now, because it's killing people through misuse, I have to stand up against it as a doctor," said Kuo Cheng-tien (
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
RSS