Twenty-one exiled Chinese democracy activists condemned Beijing's violent crackdown on protests in Tibet during a press conference in Taipei yesterday.
"We cannot and will not be silent," the activists said in a joint statement. "Our silence will be a message to the brutal Chinese Communist Party [CCP] regime that it could benefit from the Olympics while hurting its own people."
The activists, who came from several countries, including the US and Australia, have come to Taiwan to observe tomorrow's presidential election.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
They went into exile following their participation in various campaigns or demonstrations for democracy, including the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989.
"A beast does not show its wild side everyday -- but it does at key moments," said Yang Jianli (楊建利), chairman of the Institute for China in Taiwan.
"A lot of people have the wrong idea about the communist regime" because of China's rapid economic development, Yang told the press conference. "People forget that the Chinese communists have always been violent at heart."
Wang Dan (
Hence, all those who are threatened by the regime, "whether you're Tibetan, Taiwanese, a Falung Gong practitioner, a member of the underground churches, or a democracy activist, we should all stand together to make change," Wang said.
Xue Wei (薛偉), president of the Chinese Democratic Solidarity Union, accused the Beijing government of being insincere about peacefully resolving the Tibet issue.
"Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao [溫家寶] said that he will hold talks with the Dalai Lama under two conditions: first, the Dalai Lama give up Tibetan independence, and second, the Dalai Lama must urge the Tibetans to stop acts of violence," Xue said.
"But these two conditions are what the Dalai Lama has been advocating for years," he said.
The activists further urged the Chinese government to allow freedom of the press, release all political prisoners, stop arrests of human rights and democracy activists and ban blacklisting.
In another media conference, Tibetan Representative to Taiwan Tsegyam showed pictures of the dead bodies of demonstrators and video clips of military trucks and tanks moving into Tibet.
The Tibetan government in exile had received the images from various media organizations and private sources, he said.
"These images show that the killing and repression are still going on," Tsegyam said.
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
RSS