Political and judicial rights in China did not make any progress this year, the annual report by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy said.
The China Human Rights Report 2007: Observations on Political Rights and Judicial Rights, released by the foundation yesterday, was composed by Chen Chun-ju (陳純如), a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of the National Chengchi University, and Fort Liao (廖福特), a legal researcher at Academia Sinica.
Chen, in charge of the section on political rights, said the most prominent breaches occured in freedom of speech, violations of the personal safety of political dissidents, tightened control of the media and the Internet, repression of press freedoms and suppression of human rights movements.
Responsible for the section on judicial rights, Liao said he was frustrated by China's record on rights concerning personal liberties and dignity, fair trials and the proper implementation of laws.
On personal liberty and dignity, Liao said Amnesty International had written an open letter to the National People's Congress calling on Beijing to end the reeducation system, but it has not received any response.
Chinese inmates do not receive fair trials, which should include the presumption of innocence, the right to defense, equal and public trials and the right to appeal and compensation, he said.
"China still has a notoriously high execution rate," Liao said.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
RSS