Left-wing demonstrators yesterday rallied in Taipei in support of Chinese labor protests, calling for the Chinese government to allow the establishment of independent labor unions.
About 10 protesters from the Committee for a Workers’ International and the Nan Shan Life Insurance Co union braved rain showers to gather outside the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall’s Liberty Square, calling for capitalists to be made to “foot the bill” for massive layoffs expected in China’s state-owned enterprises.
“We feel that Taiwanese left-wing organizations should do more to support the struggle of the Chinese workers’ movement,” committee member Vincent Hsu (許偉育) said, adding that there had been a rise in labor activism as a result of China’s economic crisis, which he said was slated to lead to the layoffs of up to 1.8 million workers from state-owned corporations in the coal mining and steel industries.
“The Chinese Communist Party [CCP] is doing everything in its power to suppress the workers’ movement and their struggle to get wages that are owed to them,” he said, citing the suppression of miners’ protests in China’s Heilongjiang Province.
While thousands of workers from China’s state-owned Longmay Mining Group are to be paid back wages after taking to the streets early this month, this was only a “partial victory,” because leaders and organizers were still detained, he said, adding that the protests were only the “tip of the iceberg” of growing labor discontent, citing struggles by steel workers in China’s Jilin Province and miners in Shanxi Province.
He called for the establishment of independent unions apart from the CCP-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions, which he called a tool for the suppression of workers’ movements.
A Hong-Kong-based protester surnamed Lam (龍) said solidarity and support for Chinese workers’ movements were important, because they could ultimately lead to the overthrow of the CCP if they become politicized.
“If there is no international support for suppressed Chinese workers and no solidarity to join them in their struggle against the CCP and capitalists, the CCP and capitalists will have more and more power to suppress workers in Hong Kong and Taiwan,” he said, blasting the CPP for spending more than 1 trillion yuan (US$154.5 billion) to prop up its stock market while refusing to pay benefits and wages owed to workers.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
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
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by