Taiwanese democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) yesterday in a statement credited US adherence to the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) for his release and humane treatment while incarcerated in a Chinese prison.
Lee is in quarantine after returning to Taiwan on Friday following a five-year prison sentence in China for “subversion of state power.”
Writing on Facebook, Lee and his wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), said that US assistance had come as “precious air to a suffocating man.”
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
“That Lee Ming-che could safely return to Taiwan and was spared the worst abuses while imprisoned have to do, in great measure, to the US’ implementation of the [act], proving that it is not empty rhetoric, but a most precious foundation of Taiwan-US relations,” the couple wrote.
Lee Ching-yu had met many US lawmakers and human rights officials during her campaign to free her husband, including testifying before the US Congress and meeting White House officials, they said.
US lawmakers and officials in their interactions with Lee Ching-yu — repeatedly and without prompting — brought up Section II of the act as stipulating their country’s duty to safeguard human rights in Taiwan, the couple wrote.
The section says: “The preservation and enhancement of the human rights of all the people on Taiwan are hereby reaffirmed as objectives of the US.”
The couple wrote: “As we thank the US government, we cannot help but note that China is continuously violating the human rights of all Taiwanese and perpetuating lies about exercising sovereignty over Taiwan.”
The couple also thanked the US Department of State for its well wishes, after department spokesman Ned Price on Monday wrote on Twitter: “The United States celebrates the release and homecoming of Taiwanese democracy activist Lee Ming-che after five years of unjust detainment in a People’s Republic of China prison for human rights advocacy.”
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
RSS