The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) human rights record has worsened since the Tiananmen Square Massacre 31 years ago, which it continues to cover up, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday.
On June 4, 1989, Beijing used military force to suppress a student demonstration calling for democratic reform in China, but the CCP still refuses to face the facts surrounding the massacre, the council said.
Through its aggression and its use of technology to monitor and imprison dissidents, Beijing deprives the Chinese public of basic human rights — a situation that is worsening every day, it said.
The council called on Beijing to heed the calls of Chinese for democracy and to promptly reform its political system.
“Beijing must investigate the facts surrounding the Tiananmen Square Massacre and issue a sincere apology. Only then can the well-being of the Chinese public be improved and China effectively governed,” the council said.
The CCP’s one-party dictatorship puts it at odds with universal values, as do its use of concentration camps for Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang; its attacks on religious groups and dissidents; and breaking its promise to Hong Kong of democratic autonomy, it said.
“The Chinese government must make amends for its mistakes and show that it respects the aspirations of Chinese. It must give the power back to the people,” the council said.
“Peace, parity, democracy and dialogue are crucial to good cross-strait ties,” it said, citing remarks by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during her second inaugural address on May 20.
China must abandon its heavy-handed pressuring of Taiwan, and should instead promote the safeguarding of human rights and democracy for people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, which would be more beneficial to cross-strait relations, it added.
The council also called on China to release Taiwanese democracy activist Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who was imprisoned in China in 2017.
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
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