Despite the more liberal background of newly sworn-in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary and Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平), exiled Chinese democracy activist Wilson Chen (陳破空) said he does not expect substantial changes when Xi takes over as president because he is surrounded by members of the old guard.
“Some people do have some expectations of Xi when he takes office as the new president of China because of his liberal background, but I must say that I’m rather pessimistic about it,” Chen, a US-based researcher on Chinese politics, told a forum co-organized by the Taiwan Friends of Tibet and the Taiwan Association of University Professors yesterday on the potential policy direction of the new Chinese leadership toward Taiwan and Tibet.
“People have some expectations of him, because his father, Xi Zhongxun (習仲勛), one of the founding members of the CCP and the People’s Republic of China, was a liberal-minded person who had a friendly relationship with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, and was opposed to the violent crackdown on the student demonstration on Tiananmen Square in 1989,” Chen said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“Most of the children of the CCP’s founding leaders are able to continue the political tradition of their parents — Xi Jinping is no exception, as he has earned a good name during his political career serving in local offices,” Chen said.
However, Chen said he was pessimistic on what Xi Jinping may do to instigate a political reform, as he is surrounded by conservatives.
He said that as Xi Jinping climbed to the CCP’s top position, the party’s conservatives launched a counterattack by placing members of the old guard around him to keep an eye on him and prevent him from imposing policies that may hurt their interests.
“Hence, I don’t see a potential for substantial changes in Chinese policies toward Taiwan and Tibet,” Chen said.
Lashing out at the CCP’s policy in Tibet, Chen said it should end its religious repression of Tibet, as religion is the core of Tibetan culture.
“Let’s not talk about what happened in 1959 or 1989 [when massive resistance by Tibetans was met by violent crackdowns]. The policy of requiring Buddhist monasteries to hang portraits of Chinese political leaders is a huge humiliation and disrespect for Tibetan culture,” Chen said. “Can you imagine the Taiwanese government requiring all temples in Taiwan to hang a portrait of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) or the US government requiring all churches in the country to hang a portrait of [US] President [Barack] Obama? That’s unthinkable.”
Chen expressed regret that the Taiwanese government had declined to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama, which he said compromised the values of freedom, democracy and human rights.
“When China says that everything could be discussed under the premise of the ‘one China’ principle, Taiwan should set human rights values as the premise for cross-strait talks,” Chen said. “Many western countries have successfully forced China into dialogues on human rights, so should Taiwan.”
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS