The human-rights situation in China in the past year has worsened, proving that the Chinese government is the most laggard administration in the world when it comes to taking care of its people's basic needs, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy said yesterday.
The foundation examined China's human-rights situation during the period from July last year to June for its report, focusing on five aspects -- social, political, judicial, economical, and educational and cultural human rights.
Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), the foundation's vice president, said that its report tallied with the Annual Report on 2005 by the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China and the Country Report on Human Rights Practices -- China by the US State Department.
"The main reason of the regression lies in the brutal nature of the Chinese government and its strong desire to permanently retain power," Lin said, adding that "the government also has a careless attitude toward the lives of its people."
With regard to social rights in China, director of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP)Department of Chinese Affairs, Tung Li-Wen (董立文), said the most striking phenomenon over the past year has been the controversies over land compensation.
"As of last year, it was estimated that 70 million Chinese farmers were forced to abandon their land as part of the government's efforts to advance industrialization. Most people were not given proper compensation or help to resettle," Tung said.
Tung said 6,027 people had died in mine accidents during the period studied, accounting for 80 percent of the world's total mining fatalities, while a total of 137, 000 people died at work last year.
Fort Liao (
"Of all the countries in the world, China implements the death penalty the most frequently. While the exact number of executions is kept secret, it has been estimated that the death penalty was carried out at least 3,400 times last year, or 90 percent of the world's total," Liao said.
Tsai Chang-yen (蔡昌言), an assistant professor at National Chung Cheng University, said three book-banning orders announced last year demonstrated the repressiveness of China's cultural human rights.
"Access to diverse sources of information has not kept pace with its economic development. The Chinese government has sealed off information unfavorable to its rule," Tsai said.
The Chinese people are not allowed to access to the Web sites that reference democracy, Tibet, Taiwan independence, Falun Gong or the Tienanmen Massacre, Tsai said, noting that about 20,000 Web sites are blocked by the Chinese government.
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy is partially funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS