A Taiwan-based Chinese dissident yesterday blasted the US, calling the country “as crooked as China” for rejecting an asylum request made by him and two other Chinese dissidents.
Cai Lujun (蔡陸軍) made the denouncement in an open letter, following the rejection of his asylum request by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
AIT said it turned down the application because “Taiwan has well-established and reliable mechanisms to assist asylum-seekers and to protect their rights,” so the case should be handled by Taiwan.
However, Cai said he disagreed that Taiwan has sound mechanisms to assist asylum seekers, citing numerous delays and difficulties he experienced in finding work and money to cover his expenses.
“We are like half-ghost and half-human being and like spiritual beggars, yet the US calls this a ‘well-established and reliable mechanism.’ Even Taiwanese officials will blush when they hear this,” he wrote in the open letter.
Cai, 40, a businessman in Hebei Province, China, was jailed for three years for criticizing the government. He arrived in Taiwan in July last year to seek asylum.
“I never expected that the so-called democratic Taiwan and democratic US would be the same as China. If Taiwan and the US are just as crooked and shameless as China, why do they support the fight against dictatorship?” he said.
He and four other Chinese dissidents, three of whom arrived four years ago, asked to be allowed to remain in Taiwan or to seek asylum in a third country.
Taiwan has kept delaying granting them asylum on the grounds that the legislature has yet to pass an asylum law.
Taipei also agreed to assist them in finding asylum in a third country, but the effort has been futile because most countries recognize China and do not want to offend Beijing.
The five men’s patience is running out because without an ID card, they cannot find work or take advantage of government benefits.
On Thursday, Cai and two other Chinese dissidents Wu Yalin (吳亞林), 49, and Chen Rongli (陳榮利), 39, went to the AIT office in Taipei to apply for asylum from Washington.
Cai and Wu on Wednesday climbed over the wall into the AIT compound while Chen waited outside. Cai and Wu were later apprehended for trespassing by AIT security staff and taken to an adjoining police station for questioning.
On Thursday, the AIT’s press officer Lawrence Walker said the case should be settled by Taiwan.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
RSS