China summoned the Australian ambassador to protest a proposed visit to his country by an exiled Uighur leader whom Beijing accuses of instigating recent ethnic riots that killed nearly 200 people, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) called the meeting with Geoff Raby because of the trip to Australia this week by US-based Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer, a ministry statement said.
China — one of Australia’s most important trading partners — has made repeated requests to the Australian government to refuse the Uighur activist a visa.
“Zhang expressed China’s strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the Australian side on its allowing the visit,” the ministry said.
The Chinese government says 197 people died and more than 1,700 were wounded in ethnic violence early last month in China’s predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang. Beijing blames Kadeer for fomenting the unrest.
Kadeer, who heads the pro-independence World Uighur Congress, an overseas group, has denied involvement in the rioting that broke out between Turkic-speaking Uighur residents and the majority Han Chinese.
On Wednesday, Kadeer said in Japan that 10,000 Uighur protesters had disappeared after the riots, and she demanded an international investigation.
The 62-year-old former businesswoman from Xinjiang is to attend a screening of a documentary about her life at the Melbourne International Film Festival on Aug. 8 and address the National Press Club in Canberra in a televised speech on Aug. 11.
ATTACKS
Organizers said yesterday that the film festival’s Web site had been attacked for a second time.
Online ticket sales were unavailable after an “attack of Chinese origin” resulted in all tickets being booked, a posting on the site said.
Late last month, hackers posted a Chinese flag on the festival’s Web site in an apparent protest at Kadeer’s planned appearance.
‘WELL ORGANIZED’
Festival director Richard Moore said the cyber attacks appeared to be well organized and would hurt the organizers financially because online transactions accounted for about 65 percent of all ticket sales.
Tickets were still available at the box office or by telephone.
“It’s a very, very concerted and pointed attack,” Moore said.
The incident was reported to police, but they were unlikely to be able to do anything about it because the attack appeared to have come from overseas.
Festival spokeswoman Asha Holmes said a site in Chinese had been discovered carrying instructions on how to attack the festival’s site.
“It is definitely China,” she said, but added the attack did not appear to be led by the Chinese government.
Moore said last week an official from the Chinese consulate in Melbourne asked him to pull the documentary about Kadeer. Chinese filmmakers — including Venice Film Festival winner Jia Zhangke (賈樟柯) — have withdrawn their movies to protest her visit.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS