US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday met with democracy advocates Wuer Kaixi, Lee Ming-che (李明哲) and Lam Wing-kei (林榮基) at the Jingmei White Terror Memorial Park in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店).
Pelosi entered the museum at 2:40pm yesterday while officers from the New Taipei City Police Department’s Special Police Corps remained outside to guard the site.
Lee, who works for a Taiwanese non-governmental organization and was released from prison in China on April 15 after a five-year term, arrived five minutes later.
Photo: Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affair
Tibetan government-in-exile representative to Taiwan Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa and Lam, a Hong Kong-born bookseller who migrated to Taiwan after being persecuted by Beijing, arrived at 3pm.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Lam said they would discuss human rights in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
“Human rights are universal values. It makes no difference where you are from,” he said. “What is important is that Pelosi supports Taiwan. She lets people in Taiwan and Hong Kong feel they are not alone.”
Photo: Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Speaking with reporters ahead of the meeting, Wuer Kaixi recalled his first meeting with Pelosi, in 1989, after he fled China for the US to escape looming arrest for his involvement in organizing the protests that were quashed by the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
“When I first arrived in the US, I was deeply impressed by Pelosi, who had just become a representative,” he said.
He said Pelosi helped him and other democracy advocates, adding that she lent a helping hand to anyone who needed assistance arranging a visa or help adapting to life in the US.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“She was very kind and a good friend,” he said. “When I met her in Oslo in 2010, she gave me a big hug and introduced me to her family.”
Wuer Kaixi said he was happy to meet her in the country where he has found refuge, adding that he would tell her “how wonderful Taiwan is.”
He said he felt the US cutting ties with Taiwan was unfair and hoped Pelosi could push for amendments to Taiwan-related US laws.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS