Human rights activist Lee Ming-che’s (李明哲) name has been added to the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s (CECC) database of political prisoners, a first step toward US efforts to help win his release.
The commission informed Lee Ming-che’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), of its decision via a formal letter, sources said yesterday.
The letter said Lee Ming-che could be put on another list of priority political prisoners that the US Congress might submit to US President Donald Trump ahead of a state visit to China, sources said.
Lee Ming-che, who was reported missing after traveling to Zhuhai in Guangdong Province from Macau on March 19, is identified by the database as a political prisoner detained by Chinese authorities.
On March 29, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office acknowledged that he had been detained by “relevant authorities” for “involvement in activities that threaten China’s national security.”
However, it was not until May 26 that the Chinese government announced that he was being held on suspicion of the “subversion of state power.”
Last month, Lee Ching-yu traveled to Washington so she could testify before the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee hearing on “Disappeared, Jailed, and Tortured in China,” alongside three Chinese women whose husbands are detained Chinese human rights lawyers.
Taiwan Association for China Human Rights secretary-general Chiu Ling-yao (邱齡瑤) yesterday said that “Lee Ming-che’s being put down in a [CECC] record suggests a good possibility of him being included in a list of human rights cases to be presented during a US-China summit in China.”
The US government has cited the Taiwan Relations Act for its involvement in Lee’s case, and a US Department of State official said that any harassment or threats made against Lee Ching-yu, or the others who testified at the congressional hearing about the imprisonment of Lee Ming-che and Chinese human rights lawyers would be considered “a violation of US sovereignty,” Chiu said.
“The US Congress has never made such a strong move in dealing with the detention of a Taiwanese,” Chiu said.
“Public and international attention is needed when rescuing political prisoners, and the scariest thing [for prisoners] is that no one cares about them,” she said, calling for renewed public attention on Lee Ming-che’s arrest.
The commission, created by the US-China Relations Act of 2000, is responsible for “monitoring the acts of China which reflect compliance with or violation of certain human rights,” and it annually reports to the US president and the Congress.
The commission is responsible for advising the president, members of Congress and senior US officials on human rights issues in China prior to diplomatic visits, in addition to compiling annual reports on rights issues in China.
In addition, the commission is responsible for compiling a list of political prisoners whose release US officials are to advocate at diplomatic talks with their Chinese counterparts.
Last year, Senator Marco Rubio, the commission’s chairman, and US Representative Christopher Smith, its co-chairman, sent a letter to the then-US president Barack Obama urging him to authorize the compilation of a list of Chinese political prisoners and raise human rights as a major topic of discussion when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Lee Ming-che is the first non-Chinese citizen the commission has ever named as a Chinese political prisoner.
Additional reporting by Chen Wei-han
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2