World Uyghur Congress (WUC) spokesman Dilshat Rexit yesterday protested National Security Bureau Director Tsai Der-sheng’s (蔡得勝) remarks hinting that Uighur activists are terrorists, urging that Taiwan, as a sovereign country, should have its own national security policies, instead of following those of Beijing.
“I didn’t really expect that I would be allowed into Taiwan, so before I departed, I contacted some human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and asked them to help once I was denied entry,” Dilshat, now a Swedish citizen, told a news conference held in Taipei after his arrival.
“Taiwan is a country on its own, you elect your own president, so I never understand why you always have to follow Beijing’s policies,” he said.
Dilshat was referring to a remark by Tsai during a legislative meeting that two terrorist suspects were denied entry in 2009 ahead of the World Games.
Although Tsai did not say who the two suspects were, one of the foreign nationals denied entry ahead of the games was WUC secretary-general Dulkun Isa.
“The accusation was baseless and politically motivated, because no other country in the world — except China — calls Uighurs terrorists,” Dilshat said. “The objectives of the Uighurs are very clear — politically, economically and culturally, we want to be on our own. Environmentally, we don’t want our homeland to be damaged.”
He said that China’s rule over Uighurs is effectively colonial rule and the struggle of the Uighurs is resistance against Chinese colonialism.
“Our struggle is not terrorism, not a single Uighur supports terrorism,” he said.
Yiong Cong-ziin (楊長鎮), one of the co-founders of Taiwan Friends of Uyghurs, agreed.
“Taiwan apparently does not have its own national security,” Yiong said. “As we can all see, [WUC President] Rebiya Kadeer and the Dalai Lama are welcome in most countries around the world, but President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] declined to allow them into Taiwan. In my opinion, Taiwan following China’s national security measures is the deepest security threat to this country.”
Dilshat called on the Taiwanese government to take action to support the democracy movement in China.
“China is causing threats to most of its neighbors, including Taiwan and Japan, and only when China becomes a democracy with rule of law can there be stability in the region and can Taiwan be secure,” he said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS