President Chen Shui-bian (
"Any brutal or violent action to oppress one's own people or to threaten foreign countries cannot be tolerated ... I appeal to you [international community] to see clearly the true nature of China's authoritarian government and understand the implication of its awful human rights record," Chen said.
Chen made the remarks during a speech at a conference on human rights as part of a series of events hosted by Liberal International (LI) to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
Under the theme "Strengthening Networks and Combating Human Trafficking," the sessions of the two-day event focused on human trafficking in Asia and the general aspects of trafficking.
Chen thanked international guests from the world federation of liberal political parties and groups for their longstanding support of Taiwan and expressed the nation's desire to make contributions to the development of freedom, democracy, peace and security.
"Statistics show that today, millions of people are being bought and sold as commodities around the globe, which constitutes nothing less than slave a trade in the 21st century. We must not allow human beings to be denigrated and treated like commodities," Chen said.
International cooperation is necessary to eliminate human trafficking, he said, adding that Taiwan should therefore be allowed to participate in the global network.
LI president Lord John Alderdice said democratic development in China was a very difficult thing as "it's not just a question of holding to principles. It's a question of strategy."
Rather than just focus on economic cooperation, the international community should engage China on human right issues, he said.
"There is a possibly unprecedented opportunity to this. As we come up to the Olympic Games next year, it's possible to use the opportunity to make an important point about human rights in China," he said.
Franklin Drilon, chairman of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, said that democratically elected representatives play a crucial role in ending human trafficking -- "a despicable act that trumps our basic human rights."
Tioulong Saumura, an MP in the Sam Rainsy Party in Cambodia, said the various organizations involved in international development should seek to build and advance democracy, the rule of law and accountability within recipient countries.
"Too often international donators who want to help developing countries ... forget the basic values of democracy and human rights. But without those values, no sustainable development is possible," she said.
She also questioned the "principle of non-interference into internal affairs" often adopted by the international community, saying that "the internal affairs of a country, when relating to human rights, are the internal affairs of the whole world."
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods