A US senator has warned China to back off in the growing confrontation over a mural painted on a brick wall in Corvallis, Oregon, that advocates independence for Taiwan and Tibet.
“The mural will remain so long as the Americans who painted and host it wish it to remain,” Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote in a letter to Chinese Ambassador to the US Zhang Yesui (張業遂) lecturing China on the freedom of speech.
The letter, sent on Thursday, follows a statement about the mural made on the floor of the US House of Representatives earlier this week by Representative Peter DeFazio.
“I’m shocked, and appalled, that apparently Chinese professional diplomats have failed to read the Constitution of the US before travelling here to represent their country,” DeFazio said.
“This represents the basis of our representative democracy, our freedom of speech, and our rights — and it will not be bullied by China or any other overseas interest,” he added.
Taiwan-born businessman David Lin (林銘新) had a 3m by 30m mural painted on the wall of a building he owns in downtown Corvallis. The mural shows Chinese police beating Tibetan protesters and it supports independence for both Taiwan and Tibet.
No sooner had the paint on the murald dried, than the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco wrote to Corvallis Mayor Julie Manning saying that “to avoid our precious friendship from being tainted,” the mural should be removed.
When Manning replied that Lin had a constitutional right to display the mural and that there was nothing that she could, or would, do to remove it, the consulate general sent two of its diplomats to help persuade her in person.
Again, she backed Lin’s right to display the mural and the right of Taiwan-born artist Chao Tsung-song (趙宗宋) to paint it.
A local newspaper published a story about the pressure from Beijing and the situation attracted national attention with large numbers of US citizens — including many Taiwanese Americans — offering their support to Manning and Lin.
This in turn led the Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) to ask Congress to intervene.
“It has come to my attention that members of your diplomatic staff are trying to restrict free speech rights in Oregon,” Wyden said in his letter to Zhang.
“I am writing to express my deep displeasure and concern with these actions,” Wyden wrote.
He said limitations on speech and expression are incompatible with fundamental human rights anywhere in the world and that China’s efforts to have the mural removed are “a grave affront.”
“While these rights might not be respected in China, they are values that all Americans hold dear. Any attempt by your government to suppress these rights is unacceptable and must not be repeated,” Wyden wrote, adding: “I trust there will be no further attempt to try and influence any other form of legal, artistic expression in Oregon, or any other US state or territory.”
FAPA president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said: “We are pleased that Senator Wyden has responded to our concerns and applaud him for coming down forcefully on the side of freedom and democracy. The action by the consulate general of the PRC [People’s Republic of China] in San Francisco was a flagrant interference in the internal affairs of the US and a blatant attempt to silence people with different views. This may work in China itself, but should have no place in the US.”
Asked to comment, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) defended the consulate’s involvement.
“Chinese diplomats have the responsibility of expounding on China’s position to the outside world and to other peoples in the world,” he said.
This story has been updated since first published.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS