Sushil Seth is right on the mark by saying that China lives in a “make-believe” world (“Tibet: China’s make-believe world,” page 8, April 8).
Two key words to come to mind: engineering and brainwashing. Looking through the communist party’s lens, one cannot fail to see why the year 2001 was a fabulous year for the Chinese government, seeing as they look at things in such a devious way.
It was in 2001 that China gained access to the WTO, thus gaining world recognition and a big nod from world leaders. And it came as no surprise that it was also in 2001 that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave Beijing the Olympic Games — the ultimate handshake.
That very same year, allegations spread that Falun Gong practitioners were being butchered for their organs, with some citing as many as 40,000 unexplained organ transplants from practitioners kept as livestock and killed on demand, their organs sold to the elite.
Although there is a new set of regulations to gloss things over, it is suspected that this macabre practice is continuing unabated.
Beijing has repeatedly ordered police to crush the Falun Gong spiritual group and last but not least, in February an order was issued to evict 43 categories of “undesirables” before the Games.
Sadly enough, very little has been said in media reports about China’s disappeared, along with the persecution of Falun Gong which is one of the worst atrocities happening inside China today.
Outside China, many glitches are surfacing — there is Beijing’s past and recent attack on Tibet, its support of the murderous regimes in Sudan and Myanmar, along with constant threats of war against Taiwan and its “colonization” of Africa.
But now that things have reached a boiling point over the crackdown on Tibet, one would think that politicos — and especially the IOC — could no longer ignore that there is something really wrong with China. Or can they?
As Beijing shows its true face through its propaganda, there is still cause for alarm: We are running out of time.
I’m afraid that if the free world doesn’t take action now, we will take a step backward for humanity and one forward for Beijing’s dictatorship. Can we let this happen? It’s not too late for people of conscience to do the right thing before August and give the people of China more than just a dream of human rights — let’s give them the real thing.
Marie Beaulieu
Victoria, Canada
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday won the party’s chairperson election with 65,122 votes, or 50.15 percent of the votes, becoming the second woman in the seat and the first to have switched allegiance from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to the KMT. Cheng, running for the top KMT position for the first time, had been termed a “dark horse,” while the biggest contender was former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), considered by many to represent the party’s establishment elite. Hau also has substantial experience in government and in the KMT. Cheng joined the Wild Lily Student
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has its chairperson election tomorrow. Although the party has long positioned itself as “China friendly,” the election is overshadowed by “an overwhelming wave of Chinese intervention.” The six candidates vying for the chair are former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former lawmaker Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文), Legislator Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強), Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), former National Assembly representative Tsai Chih-hong (蔡志弘) and former Changhua County comissioner Zhuo Bo-yuan (卓伯源). While Cheng and Hau are front-runners in different surveys, Hau has complained of an online defamation campaign against him coming from accounts with foreign IP addresses,
When Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced the implementation of a new “quiet carriage” policy across all train cars on Sept. 22, I — a classroom teacher who frequently takes the high-speed rail — was filled with anticipation. The days of passengers videoconferencing as if there were no one else on the train, playing videos at full volume or speaking loudly without regard for others finally seemed numbered. However, this battle for silence was lost after less than one month. Faced with emotional guilt from infants and anxious parents, THSRC caved and retreated. However, official high-speed rail data have long
Taipei stands as one of the safest capital cities the world. Taiwan has exceptionally low crime rates — lower than many European nations — and is one of Asia’s leading democracies, respected for its rule of law and commitment to human rights. It is among the few Asian countries to have given legal effect to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant of Social Economic and Cultural Rights. Yet Taiwan continues to uphold the death penalty. This year, the government has taken a number of regressive steps: Executions have resumed, proposals for harsher prison sentences
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