Local activists and members of an international civil movement aimed at promoting peace yesterday called on the Taliban to release the remaining South Koreans it is holding hostage. They also urged South Korea and other countries to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Leaders of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and members of the Taipei branch of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) made the appeal at a press conference held at the legislature.
Chien Hsi-chieh, the executive director of the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan said the Taliban had violated the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and it should release the hostages immediately.
Two hostages among a church group of 23 South Koreans on a relief mission in Afghanistan were killed by the Taliban after they were abducted on July 19. The militants yesterday set tomorrow as a new deadline to save the remaining 21 hostages.
"The treatment of the hostages is simply not tolerable, and Taiwan, as a member of the international community, has to voice its concern about the matter," Chien said.
Wang Shu-li (王淑麗), director of the international affairs department at the National Union of Taiwan Women Association, urged the US and its allies to rexamine their plans to combat terrorism.
"Ever since the Sept. 11 attacks, their counterterrorism plans have not only made the public in other countries live in a state of war for years, but have also made their own nationals feel unsafe in their daily lives," Wang said.
Whether the nature of the fight against terrorism has become a war of encroachment is a problem worthy of consideration, said Fan Ching-wen (
The activists also called on the Afghan government to ensure the safety of the remaining 21 hostages in its rescue plan, saying that they should not "fight evil with evil."
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
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