The issue of human rights violations in China has continued to be a point of contention in its relationships with many countries as Beijing becomes even more brazen in imposing high-handed responses to civil rights movements. However, its relationship with Taiwan stands out as an exception, as it has long been characterized by little attention to China’s human rights issues.
In the most recent systematic suppression since China revised its National Security Act on July 1, the number of lawyers, law firm staff and human rights activists who were criminally detained, held incommunicado, summoned for questioning or subjected to temporary restrictions on personal freedom totaled 106 across more than 15 provinces as of Sunday, according to the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group.
Joining the international community in condemning the recent wave of mass arrests and roundups in China, representatives of civil groups in Taiwan yesterday stood up for the Chinese activists following separate statements by the Democratic Progressive Party, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Mainland Affairs Council issued over the weekend calling on Beijing to stop its human rights abuses. There is certainly more that should and must be done.
Until a few decades ago, Taiwanese were still living through a dark period in the nation’s history. During a period of repression that started with the 228 Incident in 1947 and continued until the lifting of martial law in 1987, it was not uncommon for family members and friends to disappear. The collective pain and suffering of a society struggling for democracy is something that Taiwanese should be able to empathize with.
If the number of countries whose appalling human rights records sometimes touch a nerve with the public, there should be more urgency to call on Beijing to enforce international norms in its human rights affairs.
Paying more attention to China’s human rights issues also serves Taiwan’s interests.
China’s newly revised National Security Act — which covers a large spectrum of issues, including the environment, defense, finance, information technology, culture, ideology, education and religion, and employs an extremely broad definition of national security — has raised concerns that national security could be invoked as a tool to target human rights activists and silence critics. What the defenders of human rights in China have experienced prove that the concerns are not groundless.
That being said, the act — the implications of which have been overlooked in Taiwan — should be taken more seriously. Under the act, Taiwanese are obligated to maintain the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of China as “Chinese” or risk punishment for engaging in activities endangering national security that might incur legal responsibility.
Although the legislation has no extraterritorial applications to people in Taiwan, Taiwanese who visit China or reside in China for work or study, estimated to number more than 1 million, might face the same fate as the Chinese human rights activists if they fail to perform their “national security obligations.”
Other than releasing statements, the government and political parties have done little to exert pressure on Beijing to improve its human rights record or to come up with effective measures to secure the release of imprisoned Chinese dissidents.
Whether China continues to rise peacefully hinges on its realization of human rights. As Taiwan is expected to serve as a role model for human rights in Asia, it should introduce human rights as a requirement in cross-strait relations.
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