Dear President Xi Jinping (習近平),
The undersigned are international scholars and writers from nations around the globe. We hereby express to you our deep concern about the disappearance of Lee Ming-che (李明哲) from Taiwan. Lee is a respected human rights worker, who in the past worked for the Democratic Progressive Party and who is now a program manager at Wenshan Community College in Taipei.
Lee disappeared on Sunday, March 19, when he entered China from Macau. It was not until March 29 that PRC authorities stated in a routine press conference that Mr Lee had been detained under circumstances that remain unexplained. This failure to notify the family within 24 hours violated both Mr Lee’s human rights and the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議).
We are particularly concerned by the fact that the Taiwan Affairs Office announced on March 29 that Lee was being investigated on suspicion of “involvement in activities that threaten national security.”
We find this allegation to be at severe odds with the fact that Mr Lee is a human rights worker who attempted to enhance communication between people in Taiwan and China.
We are also disturbed by the fact that on April 10, the Chinese authorities prevented Mr Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), from boarding a flight to Beijing by cancelling her “Taiwan compatriot travel document.” This action also disregarded the human rights of this young couple and raises substantial doubts about the intentions of the Chinese authorities.
As is becoming clear, Mr Lee’s arrest and detention is detrimental to the mutual trust that is very much needed between Taiwan and China. We therefore urge you to assist in the speedy release of Mr Lee and his safe return to Taiwan.
Any lengthy detention or legal procedure will damage China’s image, not only in Taiwan, but in countries around the world that uphold due process of law and human rights.
Respectfully yours,
Clive Ansley, Joseph Bosco, Richard Bush, Coen Blaauw,
Jie Chen, Wen-yen Chen,
Louisa Chiang, Michael Danielsen, Evan Dawley, June Dreyer, Feng Chongyi,
Carl Ford, Brock Freeman,
Edward Friedman, Mark Harrison, Michael Hoare, Thomas Hughes, Victoria Hui,
Michael Hunzeker, Sasa Istenic, Bruce Jacobs, Paul Jobin, Richard Kagan, Michael Y.M. Kau, Han-jung Ko, Raymond Kuo, Lut Lams, Perry Link, Ben Read, Shawna Yang Ryan, Michael Scanlon, David Schak,
Jonathan Schwartz, Scott Simon, Michael Stainton,
William Stanton, Peter Tague, Kharis Templeman, Ross Terrill, John Tkacik, Arthur Waldron, Gerrit van der Wees, Jack Williams, Yenna Wu
In the first year of his second term, US President Donald Trump continued to shake the foundations of the liberal international order to realize his “America first” policy. However, amid an atmosphere of uncertainty and unpredictability, the Trump administration brought some clarity to its policy toward Taiwan. As expected, bilateral trade emerged as a major priority for the new Trump administration. To secure a favorable trade deal with Taiwan, it adopted a two-pronged strategy: First, Trump accused Taiwan of “stealing” chip business from the US, indicating that if Taipei did not address Washington’s concerns in this strategic sector, it could revisit its Taiwan
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) challenges and ignores the international rules-based order by violating Taiwanese airspace using a high-flying drone: This incident is a multi-layered challenge, including a lawfare challenge against the First Island Chain, the US, and the world. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) defines lawfare as “controlling the enemy through the law or using the law to constrain the enemy.” Chen Yu-cheng (陳育正), an associate professor at the Graduate Institute of China Military Affairs Studies, at Taiwan’s Fu Hsing Kang College (National Defense University), argues the PLA uses lawfare to create a precedent and a new de facto legal
The stocks of rare earth companies soared on Monday following news that the Trump administration had taken a 10 percent stake in Oklahoma mining and magnet company USA Rare Earth Inc. Such is the visible benefit enjoyed by the growing number of firms that count Uncle Sam as a shareholder. Yet recent events surrounding perhaps what is the most well-known state-picked champion, Intel Corp, exposed a major unseen cost of the federal government’s unprecedented intervention in private business: the distortion of capital markets that have underpinned US growth and innovation since its founding. Prior to Intel’s Jan. 22 call with analysts
Chile has elected a new government that has the opportunity to take a fresh look at some key aspects of foreign economic policy, mainly a greater focus on Asia, including Taiwan. Still, in the great scheme of things, Chile is a small nation in Latin America, compared with giants such as Brazil and Mexico, or other major markets such as Colombia and Argentina. So why should Taiwan pay much attention to the new administration? Because the victory of Chilean president-elect Jose Antonio Kast, a right-of-center politician, can be seen as confirming that the continent is undergoing one of its periodic political shifts,
RSS