On Dec. 25, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), one of the co-authors of Charter 08, was sentenced to 11 years in prison and deprived of his political rights for a further two years by the Chinese authorities on charges of “agitation activities aimed at subversion of the government.”
Charter 08 is a declaration that calls on the Chinese Communist Party to carry out political reforms, protect human rights, and implement democracy and the rule of law. The heavy sentence imposed on Liu for launching Charter 08 once more underlines the political differences between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Liu incurred a heavy penalty simply for launching a petition. If a similar standard were applied in Taiwan, the million people who took part in the “red shirt” movement calling on then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to step down would probably all be guilty of the heinous crime of “subversion of the state” and would end up in jail.
The text of Charter 08 is easy to find on the Internet. It calls on the authorities to put into practice the two UN human rights covenants China signed in 1998 and to protect human rights, as required by the Constitution since an amendment in 2004. Charter 08 also urges authorities to gradually move toward democracy.
It says: “The ruling clique continues to insist on maintaining its authoritarian rule and fighting off political change. The results of this are official corruption, undermining of the rule of law, weak human rights, decay in public ethics, growing inequality between rich and poor, distorted economic development, and destruction of the natural, human and cultural environments. Citizens’ rights of freedom, property and the pursuit of happiness are not systematically guaranteed. All kinds of social contradictions keep building up, and discontent continues to mount. Above all, sharpening animosity between officials and ordinary people and, recently, a great increase in incidents of mass protest, indicate a disastrous trend that is getting out of hand.”
Why did Liu receive such a heavy sentence for a moderate political declaration that is just words on paper? How is this different from the literary inquisitions of feudal times? The people who signed Charter 08 did not take to the streets, nor have they formed an organized opposition to the ruling party. They are at most a quiet petitioning movement.
Liu is not the only victim of this ruling. The ruling, and the political system and mentality that lie behind it, may well hinder peaceful cross-strait development. Think about it: If the Chinese authorities refuse to change their ways, will the millions of people in Taiwan who support the values that Liu Xiaobo wants for China accept unification in any form?
How could the political conditions highlighted by Liu’s case have anything but a negative impact on cross-strait relations?
Most people in Taiwan want to see China move toward freedom and democracy. Surely President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who advocates peace and progress in cross-strait relations, wants the same thing. For the sake of cross-strait peace and progress, the Ma administration should not remain silent about cases like this. On the one hand, the government must show the public that it is determined to protect freedom and democracy. On the other, it must make clear to China where it stands on human rights.
Whatever Taiwan’s future, it must have the support of the majority of Taiwanese. If we want to promote peace, then we have to promote political progress in China.
Chen I-chung is an associate research fellow at the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Academia Sinica.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
Earlier this month in Newsweek, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to retake the territories lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. He stated: “If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t [the PRC] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun?” This was a brilliant political move to finally state openly what many Chinese in both China and Taiwan have long been thinking about the lost territories in the Russian far east: The Russian far east should be “theirs.” Granted, Lai issued
On Sept. 2, Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called “The US and Taiwan Must Change Course” that defends his position that the US and Taiwan are not doing enough to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from taking Taiwan. Colby is correct, of course: the US and Taiwan need to do a lot more or the PRC will invade Taiwan like Russia did against Ukraine. The US and Taiwan have failed to prepare properly to deter war. The blame must fall on politicians and policymakers
Gogoro Inc was once a rising star and a would-be unicorn in the years prior to its debut on the NASDAQ in 2022, as its environmentally friendly technology and stylish design attracted local young people. The electric scooter and battery swapping services provider is bracing for a major personnel shakeup following the abrupt resignation on Friday of founding chairman Horace Luke (陸學森) as chief executive officer. Luke’s departure indicates that Gogoro is sinking into the trough of unicorn disillusionment, with the company grappling with poor financial performance amid a slowdown in demand at home and setbacks in overseas expansions. About 95