Dozens of people rallied yesterday to spell out “China! Free Li” in Zhongyangyiwen Park (中央藝文公園) in Taipei and calling on Beijing to released Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲).
Lee went missing on March 19 after entering Zhuhai, China, from Macau. More than two months later the Chinese Ministry of State Security announced that he had been arrested on a charge of subversion of state power.
He was put on trial in Hunan Province on Monday last week and the court later released video footage of him confessing to attempting to subvert the Chinese government and accepting the charge against him.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), and human rights groups have been working since his disappearance to get Beijing to release him, and on Monday said that she did not recognize the validity of his trial.
Yesterday, civic groups that have been supporting Lee Ming-che gathered more than 250 supporters wearing red or white, who shouted “Freedom, not guilty! Democracy, not guilty! Release Lee Ming-che” as they formed the message “China! Free Li.”
Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明), a professor in the Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature at National Chengchi University, said that seeing the video of Lee’s confession reminded him of Chinese human rights lawyers detained by Beijing who have been forced to confess to various crimes.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“What’s the meaning of a rich and powerful state if its people cannot speak their minds? … China is an economic great power, but a dwarf in terms of human rights,” he said.
The Chinese government is unwilling to accept the universal values of freedom, democracy and civic rights that are common in Taiwan, he said.
Covenants Watch chief executive officer Huang Yi-bee (黃怡碧) said she and Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) testified before the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in Switzerland on Wednesday about Lee Ming-che’s detention and trial.
She said the working group was very concerned about him and about his wife, worried that Lee Ming-che had confessed under severe mental pressure.
As he is being held on remand at an unknown location and Lee Ching-yu had previously been barred from freely entering China to see him, the Working Group agreed to continue investigating his case.
Chiu urged Taiwanese who criticized Lee Ching-yu to stop attacking, because their right to speak freely in Taiwan was fought for by human rights advocates like Lee Ming-che.
Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Kao Jung-chih (高榮志) said the Chinese government is trying to send the message that “if you step onto Chinese territory, we have control over you no matter where you come from,” and that its judicial system, which lacks the soul of the rule of law, is valid.
The groups said they will continue to air their protests to the world until Lee Ming-che is released.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do
RSS