Falun Gong practitioners filed a lawsuit against Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong (郭金龍), who arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon, saying he had committed crimes against humanity, including his alleged involvement in the torture and abuse of Falun Gong practitioners and Tibetans.
A group of Falun Gong practitioners in Taiwan, accompanied by attorney Theresa Chu (朱婉琪), filed a lawsuit against Guo yesterday morning with the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office, asking it to launch a probe into Guo’s alleged crimes against humanity.
Guo arrived in Taiwan hours after the lawsuit was filed to take part in Beijing Culture Week, hosted by the Taipei City Government.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
“Guo’s record of human rights violations started with the repression of Tibetans in Tibet, who struggled for their freedom when he served as the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] chief in the Tibetan Autonomous Region,” Chu told the media outside the prosecutors’ office in Taipei. “Then, when Guo was party chief in Anhui Province, he prepared reports and a strategic handbook for the repression of Falun Gong activities in the province, leading to the illegal arrest of at least 37 Falun Gong practitioners.”
A member of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, Guo was involved in the arrests of 586 Falun Gong practitioners in a six-month period, and more than 100 have been arrested in Beijing since he was sworn in as mayor of China’s capital, Chu said.
Guo became mayor of Beijing in January 2008.
“Guo’s role in the repression of Falun Gong practitioners and Tibetan activists constitutes crimes against humanity, as well as violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” Chu said. “As those human rights covenants have been adopted by the Legislative Yuan as domestic laws, the judiciary should take action if someone accused of such crimes is in the country, as many other countries that have prosecuted Chinese officials have done.”
Chu also panned the government for permitting Guo to visit Taiwan.
“We’ve delivered evidence of human rights abuses for which Guo was responsible to the National Immigration Agency, but he was still granted a permit to enter the country,” Chu said. “Most shockingly, Guo submitted his application [for a permit to visit Taiwan] on Feb. 4, and it was approved on Feb. 8 — even though there was a two-day weekend at that time.”
Guo, who was invited by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), is the ninth Chinese official to be sued for alleged crimes against humanity since 2009.
Upon arriving in Taipei yesterday, he visited former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) at Lien’s office before attending a dinner banquet hosted by former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) at the Grand Hotel.
The six-day trip is Guo’s first visit to Taiwan and he is expected to discuss cross-strait issues and exchanges with various politicians during his stay.
The KMT insists Guo is in Taiwan to promote cross-strait cultural exchanges and his itinerary will focus on activities surrounding Beijing Culture Week.
Guo will visit the National Palace Museum and Songshan Cultural and Creative Park today, and head to Eslite Bookstore’s Xinyi flagship store before attending a cultural night at the Taipei Arena tomorrow.
Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs, co-organizer of the Beijing Culture Week, said Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) would accompany Guo to the exhibitions at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, and would introduce art and design work by Taiwanese artists.
Beijing Culture Week is a large-scale cultural event co-organized by Taipei and Beijing, launched seven years ago. Taipei and Beijing take turns hosting the event every six months.
Guo is also looking to use his visit to meet local politicians.
Information provided by the KMT shows he will visit also Greater Taichung, Changhua County and Nantou County and meet local KMT government leaders in those cities.
Hau and New Taipei City (新北市) Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) will meet with Guo and discuss the possibility of more city-to-city exchanges.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
RSS