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.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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