The people and government of Taiwan should offer more support for a Chinese “Jasmine Revolution” because democracy and human rights are universal values, and a democratic China would serve Taiwan’s interests, rights activists said yesterday.
Several human rights advocates held a press conference in Taipei to comment on the rumblings of revolution that have surfaced on Chinese Web sites over the past week.
A Boxun.com blog post on Feb. 17 called on people to gather at 2pm last Saturday in 13 Chinese cities to protest for “food, jobs, living space, fairness and justice.”
The movement, described as the “Jasmine Revolution,” ended with the arrest of protesters and a wave of Internet censorship.
The rights activists said that people in Taiwan — independence supporters and unification supporters alike — should support China’s democratic movement and the government should lead the charge.
Taiwan Association for China Human Rights president Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏) urged the government to actively voice its opinions on human rights and democracy, and make clear that it will not hold political dialogue unless China addresses these issues.
“President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), as a head of state, should have the courage to single out China’s human rights problems,” Yang said.
Ruan Ming (阮銘), a former Chinese academic who now has Taiwanese citizenship, said: “China and other authoritarian regimes are witnessing a new era of political movements driven by youth, who present their ideology with a new strategy — the Internet.”
The political movement that has swept through Africa and the Middle East is destined to arrive in China eventually, he said, adding that even though the number of people answering the call this past week may be small, “the Chinese government is obviously nervous.”
John Wei (魏千峰), a human rights attorney, urged the Chinese government to initiate dialogue with dissidents and called on Taiwanese to pay attention, and support human rights and peaceful democratic movements in China.
“A collapsed China is not necessarily a good thing for Taiwan,” he said.
Chang Tieh-chih (張鐵志), a well-known blogger, warned that Taiwanese know too little about China, especially its “dark side,” despite warming cross-strait ties. The crackdown on dissidents and the censorship of the Internet showed that “China might be powerful on the outside, but it is, in fact, fragile on the inside.”
“No one can predict when a revolution will happen,” Chang said. “However, the social situation in China has reached a boiling point and the Chinese people are now more courageous than ever in voicing their opinions.”
Posts circulating on the Internet have hinted that there could be a second wave of protests tomorrow.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS