If Beijing does not order the release of human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), “problems will arise” when the Chinese delegation arrives in Taipei for the Summer Universiade in August, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said.
China’s handling of the Lee incident is “strange” and “runs counter to global norms,” Ko said in an interview published yesterday by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
Ko said he had no preconceived notions about Lee’s arrest almost three weeks ago, but Beijing should have disclosed on what grounds it detained him and allowed his family to visit on the second or third day of his detention.
Photo: CNA
“This is the way of civilized nations,” he said, adding that he was concerned about China, as a superpower, demonstrating behavior that is at odds with the civilized world.
China’s handling of the Lee case provided insight into why, despite all the benefits that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office has offered Taiwanese businesspeople in China, there is still a general antipathy toward China among Taiwanese, Ko said.
“It is very simple. The Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) incident probably scared off half of Taiwanese, while the Lee Ming-che incident scared off the other half,” Ko said, refering to a seemingly forced apology by the Taiwanese K-pop idol after she displayed a Republic of China flag on a South Korean TV show last year.
“Maybe they do not find it unusual, but to Taiwanese it was beyond shock and awe,” Ko said, adding that the two incidents showed a fundamental difference between Taiwanese and Chinese beliefs, which is an issue Beijing should be mindful of.
As China plans to send a delegation of at least 700 to Taipei to compete in the Summer Universiade, problems will arise if Beijing does not handle the Lee incident with caution, Ko said.
Ko said that although Taipei’s extensive experience with dealing with protesters is enough to guarantee the safety of Chinese delegates, he cannot control public sentiments toward the delegation.
“Who do you think spectators will root for if China and US went head-to-head in a match?” he asked.
Taiwanese attitudes toward the Chinese delegation would have a profound political effect on Beijing and the world through live broadcast of the Games, he said.
Asked what messages he would convey to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) if he meets Xi’s aides on his trip to China for the Taipei-Shanghai Forum in June, Ko said that it is unclear whether he would meet with them.
If he has a chance to meet with Beijing officials, he would urge China to respect “universal values and global norms” in addition to promoting exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, so that disagreements can be resolved by an increase in goodwill, Ko said.
‘UNFRIENDLY’: Changing the nationality listing of Taiwanese residents to ‘China’ goes against EU foreign policy as well as democratic and human rights principles, MOFA said Taiwan yesterday called on Denmark to correct its designation of the nationality of Taiwanese residents as “China” or face retaliatory measures. The Danish government in 2024 changed the nationality of Taiwanese citizens on their residence permits from “Taiwan” to “China.” The decision goes against EU foreign policy and contravenes democratic and human rights principles, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said. Denmark should present a solution acceptable to Taiwan as soon as possible and correct the erroneous designation to preserve the longstanding friendship between the two nations, Hsiao said. The issue could damage Denmark’s image and business reputation in Taiwan,
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
Taiwan climbed to its highest position in global export rankings in more than three decades last year, buoyed by demand linked to artificial intelligence (AI) that lifted shipments of semiconductors and technology products, Ministry of Finance data released yesterday showed. Taiwan accounted for 2.4 percent of global exports last year, or about US$640 billion, ranking 12th worldwide, the data showed. That was up four places from a year earlier and marked the nation’s best ranking since 1994, the ministry said. Taiwan’s share of global exports rose by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year, the largest increase among major economies, reflecting the nation’s
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
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