A Falun Gong practitioner and former classmate of Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Zhang Mengye (
"In this free country [Taiwan], I appeal to my old classmate [Hu Jintao] to make the right decision for his administration by respecting Chinese people's right and religious beliefs and to stop destroying the morals of the people," Zhang said.
Zhang and his wife Luo Muluan (
Before being arrested and sentenced to two years in a forced labor camp, Zhang was a former senior lecturer at Guangdong Provincial Electric Power School.
"My wife and I were arrested unexpectedly in January 2000 while asking police officers stationed near Tiananmen Square to deliver a letter to the Chinese Communist Party pleading for the rights of Falun Gong practitioners," he said.
Zhang said that while in detention he was once handcuffed to a tree for three consecutive days in an agonizing position in which he could neither squat nor stand.
Zhang was re-arrested in May 2002 and sent to a brainwashing center in Guangzhou City, where he said he was tied up and dunked head-first into a dirty toilet bowl, causing him to swallow the foul water.
He also brought a charge against Tsinghua University, where he and Hu had studied together, saying that it cooperated with the Chinese government to stamp out the Falun Gong.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS