I ran into World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer by the elevator on my way to attend a hearing on July 19 of the US Congressional Executive Commission on China on conditions in Xinjiang a year after the riots in July last year. We exchanged a few words, and I could sense her warmth and kindness.
She was accompanied by the vice president of the World Uyghur Congress, Omer Kanat, a kind and friendly gentleman who has spent his life working for freedom and human rights for people in East Turkestan or the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
These two people live and work in Washington and are considered by the US government and Congress to be respected and reliable sources of information on what is happening in their homeland.
Last year, however, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration blocked Kadeer from visiting Taiwan to promote her movie The Ten Conditions of Love and only last week stalled Kanat’s visa application for so long that he was also unable to visit Taiwan.
Whose side is the Ma administration on? Does it want to promote human rights and democracy around the world — and support freedom-loving people like Kadeer and Kanat — or does it side with the repressive government in Beijing, which is increasingly seen in the international community as a perpetrator of injustice, especially in Tibet and Xinjiang?
While I was listening to the panelists’ comments about Xinjiang, I could not help but compare events in Xinjiang and Taiwan. Conditions in Xinjiang have been worsening, as the Chinese government classifies Uighurs as terrorists, stripping them of their freedom and basic rights. Do the events in Xinjiang perhaps give us some indication as to Taiwan’s future if it continues on its present course?
The Ma administration seems intent on drawing Taiwan closer to China, and in doing so has increasingly behaved in an undemocratic way in Taiwan. Ma’s agenda seems to be more concerned with pleasing the Chinese government than adhering to the basic principles of human rights and democracy.
During the question-and-answer session at the congressional hearing, Shirley Kan of the US Congressional Research Service expressed concern about these trends in Taiwan. In particular, she criticized the decision by the Ma government to block Kadeer from coming to Taiwan, saying the Taiwanese government was “at odds” with US and Japanese policies on these issues.
If the Ma government wants to be considered part of the democratic world, it needs to show more clearly and openly that it upholds human rights and democracy. Statements about “shared values” with the US are not enough.
Indeed, the Ma administration has all too often given the impression that it has “shared values” with the People’s Republic of China. Its emphasis on being “Chinese” creates the misconception that there is a common heritage — which is only true for those who came over from China with Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) after the civil war.
The reality is that Taiwanese have their own identity, a rich and multicultural heritage based on Aboriginal origins, Hoklo and Hakka influences, and half a century under Japanese rule. Based on this heritage, we need to distinguish ourselves as a freedom-loving nation that is accepted by the international community, instead of cozying up to an undemocratic China.
The people of East Turkestan regrettably do not have that choice anymore; the people of Taiwan do and must exercise the right to self-determination denied their Uighur cousins..
Susan Wang is an undergraduate student in international development Studies at McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Taiwan should reject two flawed answers to the Eswatini controversy: that diplomatic allies no longer matter, or that they must be preserved at any cost. The sustainable answer is to maintain formal diplomatic relations while redesigning development relationships around transparency, local ownership and democratic accountability. President William Lai’s (賴清德) canceled trip to Eswatini has elicited two predictable reactions in Taiwan. One camp has argued that the episode proves Taiwan must double down on support for every remaining diplomatic ally, because Beijing is tightening the screws, and formal recognition is too scarce to risk. The other says the opposite: If maintaining
The cancelation this week of President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visit to Eswatini, after the Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius revoked overflight permits under Chinese pressure, is one more measure of Taiwan’s shrinking executive diplomatic space. Another channel that deserves attention keeps growing while the first contracts. For several years now, Taipei has been one of Europe’s busiest legislative destinations. Where presidents and foreign ministers cannot land, parliamentarians do — and they do it in rising numbers. The Italian parliament opened the year with its largest bipartisan delegation to Taiwan to date: six Italian deputies and one senator, drawn from six
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), during an interview for the podcast Lanshuan Time (蘭萱時間) released on Monday, said that a US professor had said that she deserved to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize following her meeting earlier this month with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Cheng’s “journey of peace” has garnered attention from overseas and from within Taiwan. The latest My Formosa poll, conducted last week after the Cheng-Xi meeting, shows that Cheng’s approval rating is 31.5 percent, up 7.6 percentage points compared with the month before. The same poll showed that 44.5 percent of respondents
Recently, Taipei’s streets have been plagued by the bizarre sight of rats running rampant and the city government’s countermeasures have devolved into an anti-intellectual farce. The Taipei Parks and Street Lights Office has attempted to eradicate rats by filling their burrows with polyurethane foam, seeming to believe that rats could not simply dig another path out. Meanwhile, as the nation’s capital slowly deteriorates into a rat hive, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection has proudly pointed to the increase in the number of poisoned rats reported in February and March as a sign of success. When confronted with public concerns over young
RSS