Taiwan Democracy Watch yesterday released a manifesto entitled the “Declaration of Free Men” and called for a step-by-step process to remold relations across the Taiwan Strait on the basis of human rights.
The group of pro-democracy academics, which is scheduled to host a seminar today to discuss cross-strait human rights development, called for a two-stage approach to promote peace across the Strait in a press release, proposing an “early harvest human rights list” as a short-term goal and the signing of a human rights charter as a long-term goal.
“The protection of human rights would be the foundation of mutual political trust,” the group said.
Taiwan and China should recognize each other’s sovereignty and develop bilateral ties based on constitutionalism, it said.
The group also listed four areas in what it called an “early harvest human rights list”: human rights protection and legal assistance for detainees on both sides of the Strait, the inclusion of a human rights clause in current agreements, the signing of agreements on personal safety and protection of the freedom of the press.
The group called on China to carry out judicial reform and protect freedom of speech and publishing and on Taiwan to establish a national agency in charge of human rights, enact a statute on cross-strait agreement monitoring and bolster its compliance to international human rights covenants.
It said Taiwan and China could discuss a human rights charter, which could serve as the basis of interaction between the two sides.
“Taiwan Democracy Watch opposes any form of political negotiation and political agreement — be it called military confidence-building measures, peace accord, mid-term agreement or plan for the final political solution — before the charter is signed and fully implemented,” the group said.
“People on both sides of the Strait can discuss their future relationship only when they are free from military threats and when their rights, freedom, democracy are protected,” it 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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