With tomorrow marking the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising of 1959, a “free Tibet” march is to be held in Taipei today, and a candlelit vigil at Liberty Square tomorrow night.
The march is to begin at 1pm outside Exit 2 of Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station in Taipei, while the vigil would take place at 7pm, the event sponsors said.
Sponsors include the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which represents the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration in Taiwan, and other civil groups.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Taiwanese should support Taiwan and say “no” to Chinese autocracy, Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa, the foundation’s chairman and representative of the Tibet Office in Taiwan, told a news conference in Taipei on Thursday.
Following the death of the Dalai Lama’s second-oldest brother, Gyalo Thondup, on Feb. 8, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs two days later announced that it would be open to negotiating with the Dalai Lama if he recognized that Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of China, whose sole legal government is that of the People’s Republic China, Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa said.
In 1951, the Chinese government used military force to compel Tibet to sign the Seventeen-Point Agreement, or the “Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet,” agreeing that Tibet was a part of China, he said.
However, in the following nine years, the agreement was broken and Tibet was violently suppressed and occupied, resulting in the death of more than 1.2 million Tibetans, the eradication of Tibetan culture, the destruction of more than 6,000 temples and the self-immolation of at least 157 Tibetans in protest of Chinese rule, he said.
In an attempt to ethnically cleanse Tibet, China confines Tibetan children and adults in “cultural assimilation schools that resemble concentration camps,” he said.
Even Tibetans living in free societies are subject to transnational repression and persecution, he added.
China imposed “one country, two systems” on Hong Kong in 1997, but in fewer than 22 years it crushed the territory’s freedoms, forcing many Hong Kongers into exile and displacement across the world, he said.
As the Chinese Communist Party also says it wishes to unify China with Taiwan, Taipei needs to heed the cautionary tales of Tibet and Hong Kong, he added.
The parade was first held in Taiwan 22 years ago, growing from just seven attendees in 2003 to a large gathering, Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan secretary Tashi Tsering said.
Tashi Tsering, a displaced Tibetan and the last surviving member of his family, expressed his hope of avoiding a second exile, urging Taiwanese to stand resolute and remain strong in the face of China’s threats.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
RSS