Condemning China’s repression of human rights in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong, a coalition of 16 advocacy groups yesterday called for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
The non-governmental organizations urged the Legislative Yuan to join 11 Western nations and parliaments, and pass a resolution calling on the government to withdraw from the Beijing Games.
The Taiwan-based Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee should refrain from sending athletes to the winter games and change its name to Taiwan Olympic Committee, they said in a statement.
Photo: Screen grab by Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The International Olympic Committee should seek another venue other than Beijing for the Games, while the public should boycott any brands that sponsor the event, they said.
China’s behavior toward Taiwan and ethnic minorities shows that it does not care to be a good neighbor or to abide by the rule of law, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) told a virtual news conference.
Allowing China to host the Games on the centennial of the Chinese Communist Party’s founding would embolden Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), as the Munich Games did with Hitler, New School for Democracy chairman Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元) said.
China’s tyrannical elimination of general elections in Hong Kong has made it impossible for the territory’s residents to feel pride in Chinese athletes’ participation in the Games, he said.
“Having athletes compete peacefully inside a venue while the most unsportsmanlike enslavement of an entire society is being played outside would be the ultimate irony,” he said.
China has instituted a surveillance system to transform the Xinjiang region into a prison without walls for an entire population, Taiwan East Turkestan Association president He Chao-tung (何朝棟) said.
Taiwan should stand up to China’s saber-rattling, and the International Olympic Committee should support human rights and the people and countries being oppressed by Beijing, He said.
China’s speech and conduct are unbecoming of the Olympic spirit, Taiwan Hong Kong Association secretary-general Lee Chih (李淇) said.
Beijing should not be allowed to host the Winter Olympics while it commits genocide and abuses human rights, she added.
The world does not wish to see the Olympics become a platform for another fascist regime to spread totalitarianism, Taiwan United Nations Alliance spokesman Tseng Tsung-kai (曾琮愷) said.
“Appeasing China now means allowing the destruction of the pathway to democracy for the world,” he said.
Beijing has mandated that clergy are to preach core socialist values from the pulpit as part of its program to promote Christianity with Chinese characteristics, Che-lam Presbyterian Church pastor Huang Chun-sheng (黃春生) said.
The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan thereby requests the government to bar officials from attending the Beijing Winter Olympics, per the recommendation of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, he said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College