A campaigner for Tibetan self-rule unfurled a banner yesterday near Beijing's Tiananmen Square and then escaped by bicycle, pulling off a rare protest as police patrolled to prevent demonstrations during the annual meeting of parliament.
Wangpo Tethong pulled the banner from his backpack reading "Hu, you can't stop us" in an apparent reference to Chinese President Hu Jintao (
The protest drew no response from the roughly dozen security officers in the area or the scores of tourists milling around.
PHOTO: AP
Shortly after Tethong's protest, a young man who ran across the square shouting in what was an apparently unrelated protest was quickly tackled by about six police officers, bundled into a car and taken away.
A 15,000-member force is on duty outside the meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC) to guard against protests by laid-off workers, farmers with land disputes and others hoping to draw attention to their grievances during the 10-day legislative session.
Since the NPC session began on Sunday, dozens of small-scale protests have been broken up. In almost every case, it has been impossible to tell what the people were protesting about because they have been taken away so quickly.
In a brief interview moments after the protest, Tethong said his protest aimed to express Tibetan aspirations for self-determination.
"I am angry and frustrated to see that Tibetans for more than 50 years are denied their freedom and the right to determine the future for themselves," said Tethong, who is of Tibetan descent but based in Switzerland and is a member of the International Tibet Support Network.
Tethong's whereabouts after the protest were not known.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International yesterday called for the release of at least 10 Chinese activists who were apparently detained by police weeks ahead of the annual meeting of the NPC. Those held include AIDS activist Hu Jia (
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
LONG-HELD POSITION: Washington has repeatedly and clearly reiterated its support for Taiwan and its long-term policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that Taiwan should not be concerned about being used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade talks. “I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is, we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio told reporters aboard his airplane traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “No one is contemplating that,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying. A US Treasury spokesman yesterday told reporters
RSS