Taiwanese should work hard to protect democracy and improve human rights so that Taiwan can “shine as a beacon for the people of China,” exiled Chinese dissident and former political prisoner Yang Jianli (楊建利) said during a visit to Taipei.
The US-based democracy advocate said that there are many programs in Taiwan to help the pro-democracy movement in China, including allowing Chinese dissidents to tell their stories in Taiwan, in an interview with the Central News Agency earlier this week.
“I hope the programs will be expanded to help Taiwanese learn more about the situation in China and realize that democratization of China would be in the interest of Taiwan,” he said.
If Taiwanese can “protect democracy and bring human rights to another level,” it will have a positive influence on China, Yang said.
Yang’s visit came after four Chinese human rights activists were convicted on subversion charges and sentenced to prison terms ranging between three and seven years, in the latest move by Beijing to crack down on activists and lawyers in the nation.
When asked to comment on the deportations of overseas Taiwanese fraud suspects to China instead of their homeland, Yang described the suspects as victims of China’s unification policy.
Beijing wants to show the world that “Taiwanese are citizens of China” and that China has jurisdiction over their cases, he said.
It was a wake-up call to Taiwan’s government and its people, Yang said, adding that it also shows that the improvement of human rights and democracy in China can “actually work in the interests of Taiwanese.”
That is the case “whether Taiwan is a part of China or not,” he added.
One of the reasons for Yang’s visit is to help plan a Freedom Forum hosted by the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, where he serves as an adviser.
The forum seeks to bring together participants from around the world to discuss political freedom and democracy issues.
Yang, 53, is seen as a major actor in China’s democracy movement and one of the most important international advocates for China’s peaceful transition to democracy.
Born in Shandong Province, he left for the US to further his studies in the 1980s after he obtained a bachelor’s degree in China.
In 1989, he returned to China to support the pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Yang said he witnessed the massacre of thousands of people by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, which he said was a life-changing moment for him.
Yang barely escaped capture by Chinese authorities and returned to the US. After completing a doctorate in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, he pursued another doctorate at Harvard University — this time in the field of political economy.
After finishing his doctorate at Harvard, Yang returned to China in 2002 using a friend’s passport to help the labor movement there.
He had been banned from entering China following his involvement in the Tiananmen Square protests.
He was arrested for using fake identification documents and sentenced to five years in prison on espionage charges.
Despite an international outcry for his release, he insisted on finishing his jail term and was released in 2007, after which he returned to the US.
Once there, he formed the Initiatives for China, a pro-democracy movement advocating China’s peaceful transition to democracy.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS