A number of human rights groups — including the Taiwan Tibetan Welfare Association and the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Taiwan — yesterday announced a series of events to commemorate the 56th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising, while advocating for the Tibetan cause to the world.
“It’s been more than half a century, and we Tibetans living in exile are still waiting for the opportunity to go home, while as many as 130 Tibetans living in Tibet and five living abroad self-immolated between 2009 and 2014 to protest the Chinese occupation of Tibet,” association president Tashi Tsering, a Tibetan, told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan.
“We would like to invite all Taiwanese to stand with us to remember those Tibetans who have been sacrificed, and to voice our call for a free Tibet,” Tashi said.
Tashi explained that on March 10, 1959, a demonstration by Tibetans in Lhasa to stop the Dalai Lama from accepting an invitation to see a drama performance in a Chinese military camp turned into an uprising against Chinese rule.
“The Dalai Lama was therefore forced to go into exile until today, while more than 1.2 million Tibetans inside Tibet were killed, and over 6,000 Buddhist monasteries were destroyed,” he said.
“Since then, we Tibetans have never ceased in our pursuit for a free Tibet, for the freedom of religion in Tibet and for the preservation of Tibetan culture,” Tashi said.
Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎), secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, said that as members of the global community who have shown much concern for human rights issues in the past few years, “We Taiwanese should not hesitate to join people around the world to speak out for the Tibetans.”
This year, events to commemorate the Tibetan uprising include a march that starts from MRT Zhongxiao Fuxing Station in Taipei at 2pm tomorrow, and another march in Kaohsiung that begins from Central Park (中央公園) at 6pm on Tuesday.
In addition, a candlelit vigil is planned to take place in Taipei’s Liberty Square at 7pm on Tuesday.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
RSS