China’s emergence as a new economic power may be threatening human rights and freedom in other countries, speakers at the International Human Rights Forum in Taipei said yesterday.
“Twenty years ago, the world condemned the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] regime for its crackdown on the Tiananmen Square demonstrations,” said former presidential adviser Ruan Ming (阮銘), a one-time CCP official who was forced into exile in the late 1980s for promoting political reform.
“Now things are a little different, with Beijing and Wall Street working to bring a new economic order to the world: China makes the merchandise and Wall Street invests,” Ruan told the forum, hosted by the Memorial Foundation of 228.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
Ruan said US economists were increasingly interested in the profits to be made by investing in China, while overlooking human rights abuses there.
“In fact, in addition to exporting goods, the CCP is also exporting ideas against human rights, freedom and democracy,” he said, citing as examples China’s support of the authoritarian regimes in North Korea, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Iran and Cuba.
“This crisis of democracy is not just a crisis for Taiwan, but for the entire world,” he said.
Exiled Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan (王丹) said “the CCP is trying to tell the world that the economy is more important than remembering Tiananmen Square.”
“It’s the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square [Massacre], yet no one seems to care much,” he said. “This is especially apparent in Taiwan.”
He called on Taiwanese to support Chinese democracy activists in countering the CCP regime.
For many, “human rights” and “freedom” are abstract concepts, World Uyghur Congress president Rabiye Kadeer said.
They think they will never have to face political persecution as long as they do not participate in political activities, but an authoritarian government can affect all aspects of life and even destroy an entire people, she said.
“Over the past 60 years since China occupied East Turkestan [also known as Xinjiang], its violation of the Uighurs’ civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights has never stopped,” Rabiye said in a statement.
She was unable to attend yesterday’s forum because it conflicted with a World Uyghur Congress meeting in Washington.
“While Chinese immigrants continue to pour into East Turkestan, the Uighurs are faced with the crisis of becoming a minority in our own land and [watching our] culture die out,” the statement said.
“Uighurs are arrested for no reason, religious practices are banned. We face discrimination in terms of economic activities and education and we’re even discouraged from using our language,” it said.
Political commentator Paul Lin (林保華), another panelist at the forum, said that in 1954, Uighurs accounted for 75 percent of the population in Xinjiang, but today are believed to make up less than 50 percent of the population.
Lin said that studies in Japan indicated that China’s nuclear tests in Xinjiang had killed more than 190,000 Uighurs, while affecting the health of another 1.3 million locals and 270,000 Japanese tourists who have visited the region.
“China often accuses the Uighurs of being terrorists, but I wonder who the real terrorists are,” Lin said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS