The former leader of Hong Kong’s Catholic Church yesterday hit out at Beijing for its stance over the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and voiced concern for religious freedom.
Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), a staunch democracy advocate and long-time vocal critic of the Chinese government, said he wanted to see an official re-examination of the bloody crackdown on student demonstrators 20 years ago this week.
“I hope they really consider seriously the possibility of a reassessment of the verdict,” Shanghai-born Zen said in a speech at Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club, three days before the June 4 anniversary.
“It will not damage anyone, but would be to the advantage of the whole nation,” he said.
The events of 1989, in which hundreds or possibly thousands died when the army moved in on the young protesters, remain taboo in China, where the government blocks any mention of it in the press and on the Internet.
Beijing has refused to change its position that the protests threatened Chinese Communist Party rule and had to be quelled to maintain economic reforms.
Asked when or if he thought the Chinese government would soften its stance, Zen said: “Things in China are unpredictable. It may happen tomorrow or still take 20 years.”
Zen, 77, an official adviser to Pope Benedict XVI since his recent retirement, said he was also deeply concerned for the freedom of the Church in the world’s most populous country.
“There’s no real freedom in China, I’m sorry to say,” the cardinal said, adding the state of the Church there was “more close to my heart” than even the Tiananmen issue.
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS