The funeral of veteran human rights and social activist Lynn Miles was held yesterday in Taipei, with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and a number of democracy advocates paying tribute to Miles and his work.
Offering a sunflower and a glass of beer while holding Miles’ hand, Tsai expressed gratitude for Miles’ contribution to the nation’s movement for democracy during the White Terror era.
Tsai made a brief stop at the Taipei Municipal Second Funeral Parlor before traveling to Kinmen for campaign events.
Former DPP chairperson Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), who participated in the democracy movement from the 1970s through the 1990s, remembered Miles.
“Miles worked in the campaign to rescue political prisoners in Taiwan in the 1970s and the 1980s, and helped blacklisted Taiwanese political dissidents living in exile to return home,” Hsu said. “When I served as the DPP chairperson [from 1992 to 1993 and then from 1996 to 1998], he offered a great deal of help in the party’s international campaigns.”
US-born democracy activist Linda Arrigo, former presidential adviser Roger Hsieh (謝聰敏) and former Yunlin County commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) also attended the ceremony.
Miles, who came from the US to Taiwan in the 1970s to study Mandarin Chinese, later became involved in the nation’s democracy movement before eventually being expelled.
He helped provide the names of political prisoners in Taiwan to overseas human rights groups, contributing to international rescue efforts.
Miles passed away in Taipei on Monday at the age of 72.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and