Taiwanese-Americans will join other protest groups for a demonstration outside the White House next week when Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平) arrives in Washington. The groups — including Uighurs and Tibetans — will gather in Lafayette Square and are almost certain to be seen by Xi and his entourage.
Xi, expected to be China’s next president and chair of the National People’s Congress, will meet with US President Barack Obama on Tuesday for wide-ranging talks that could lay the foundation for future US-China relations.
The joint protest is to express “deep concern” about Chinese repression against Tibet and East Turkestan and about China’s continuing refusal to renounce the use of force against Taiwan.
Formosan Association for Public Affairs president Mark Kao (高龍榮) has written to Obama, appealing for him to “reaffirm America’s support for freedom, democracy and human rights in Taiwan.”
He says in the letter: “We understand that the US needs to engage China. However, such engagement should not come at the expense of America’s core values. We ask that you remind Mr Xi that it is a core interest of the US that the future of Taiwan be resolved peacefully and with the express consent of the people of Taiwan. We ask that you impress upon Mr Xi that China dismantle its 1,600 missiles targeted at Taiwan and renounce the use of force against Taiwan.”
Kao added that it was essential that China end Taiwan’s international political isolation.
“Taiwan deserves an equal place in the international family of nations, and its people should be fully represented in international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization and others,” he said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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