It’s about time for Taiwan to become an “exporter of democracy,” speakers at a conference on the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre said in Taipei yesterday, urging the government to discuss human rights issues during cross-strait negotiations.
“China has become an ‘exporter of authoritarianism — not because of any ideological reasons, but for its own national interests,” said Yiong Cong-ziin (楊長鎮), director of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of Social Movement.
“China has become strikingly similar to what it once criticized as ‘American imperialists,’” Yiong said.
He said that because of its need for oil and other raw materials, as well as for the access to the Indian Ocean, “China is providing support and weapons to authoritarian rulers in Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe.”
CRACKDOWNS
“As the Chinese government cracks down on Tibetan demonstrators in Lhasa, arrests Chinese human rights activists and even allows live organ harvest of Falun Gong practitioners, we cannot pretend that all these do not happen and we only focus on economic exchanges,” Yiong said.
“If we do, we would become a member of China’s ‘axis of evil,’” he said.
Taiwan should seek to become an “exporter of democracy” and bring up human rights issues — such as urging Beijing to give justice to victims of the Tiananmen Massacre — during cross-strait talks, he told the conference.
“Taiwan received much help from the international community — especially from international human rights groups—during our struggle for democracy,” former DDP legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) said.
Several Chinese democracy activists also attended the conference, which was organized by a Chinese democracy movement support group.
JUSTICE DELAYED
“We’re talking about commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre here, but it’s not just about remembering a historic event, because Tiananmen Square is not yet history,” Chinese democracy activist Xue Wei (薛偉) said.
“Justice is yet to be rendered even judged by the lowest standards, many Tiananmen Square demonstrators are still in jail or in exile,” Xue said.
“Remembering Tiananmen Square itself is a resistance to the Chinese Communist Party regime,” he said.
All the speakers expressed their concerns that less people seem to care about democracy in China today as the country evolves into a strong economic power.
“I’ve heard some people attributing China’s economic development to the iron-handed crackdown of demonstrators in Tiananmen Square,” former New Party legislator Yao Li-ming (姚立明) said. “That’s highly inappropriate.”
Yao said he was sorry that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) seems to have become more ambivalent about the the massacre since he became president.
“I understand that he may have other considerations as a president who represents the entire Republic of China,” Yao said.
“But I do expect him to make a gesture on June 4,” Yao said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
RSS