Tue, Nov 04, 2003 page1

• Columnist still defiant after attack

  VIOLENT RESPONSE A Chinese dissident based in New York said he was attacked by pro-China supporters but that he would stick to his beliefs

  • By Huang Tai-lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  A day after he said he was assaulted by pro-unification supporters, New York-based political commentator Cao Chang-ching (曹長青) said yesterday in Taiwan that he would not bow to violence and insisted on his belief that Taiwanese have the right to determine their future.

  "It is shocking that an incident like this would happen in democratic Taiwan," said Cao of the assault on Sunday night.

  Unhappy with Cao's pro-Taiwan-independence remarks made at an international conference on Sunday, four members of the pro-unification Patriot Association (愛國同心會) beat and orally abused Cao in the lobby of the Grand Hotel, Cao said.

  Cao said that he will continue to insist on his personal freedom of speech and will never compromise in the face of violence.

  "Apparently there is an underlying arrogant force in Taiwan which purposefully produces fear and uses violence against people who hold different points of view," Cao said at a press conference, accompanied by lawmakers of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

  "What happened made me feel as if we were back in the terror society in China and that [these assailants] were like the Red Guards during the Chinese Cultural Revolution," said Cao, a political commentator and columnist for the US' Radio Free Asia, Hong Kong's Open magazine and the Taipei Times.

  Cao was a former deputy editor-in-chief of the Chinese communist newspaper the Shenzhen Youth News.

  He was fired in 1986 -- and the newspaper was dissolved shortly afterward -- after the newspaper published an editorial saying that then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) ought to retire.

  Cao was in Taiwan this week at the invitation of the think tank Taiwan Advocates and the Northern Taiwan Society.

  Cao, who will return to New York on Saturday, is slated to deliver a speech at an event tonight sponsored by the Northern Taiwan Society.

  The Taiwan Advocates will work with the Northern Taiwan Society to strengthen security for Cao, according to a Cao aide who wished not to be named.

  "Unless unpleasant events of a similar nature happen again, Cao is unlikely to change his schedule during his visit in Taiwan," said Cao's aide, adding that Cao had nevertheless moved to a different hotel following Sunday's incident.

  The aide said that Cao is not considering suing his assailants because "Cao understands these people's stance and hopes that through advice and using a moral approach these people will come to understand that democracy started with people-to-people relations and not the use of violence."

  Denying that they had attacked Cao, the four members of the Patriot Association yesterday sued Cao for making false allegations.

  If true, this would not be the first time pro-unification supporters had attacked commentators who opposed their views.

  In March, Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), a political commentator and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine, was attacked while he was walking home with his wife.

  The assailant was believed to be angry with Chin's liberal stance on cross-strait affairs and Taiwan independence.

  In May 2000, retired serviceman Shih Li-hsing (史力行) poured red ink onto former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who, he said, had raised tensions between ethnic groups in Taiwan and betrayed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) during his 12 years as head of the party.

  Ching and Lee chose not to press charges against their attackers.

  In view of these cases, Chiu Hei-yuan (瞿海源), a sociology professor at National Taiwan University, said: "These repeated incidents suggest that there is an undercurrent in Taiwan's democratic society."

  These incidents "showed that there are a small number of people in Taiwan who have yet to learn to respect and accept democratic values; that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion," Chiu said.

  "It is okay that these people are fervent about their political stance," Chiu added, "but they ought to learn not to resort to violence against people who hold different opinions from theirs."

  Chiu suggested that suing the assailants was one efficient approach to prevent similar assaults from happening again.

  Echoing Chiu's remarks, KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) said: "One should not take a violent approach just because someone holds an opposite or different opinion."

  Chen, a member of a political party that favors Taiwan's eventual unification with China, noted that the aggressive moves taken by the pro-unification group would likely backfire.

  "Violent moves of this type will only end up drawing people away from sharing and wanting to accept their ideals and beliefs," Chen said.
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