A charter signed last week by more than 300 Chinese from all walks of professional life envisioning a free and democratic country calls for Beijing to approach cross-strait relations with a full “commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy” and to “be prepared to compromise.”
Charter 08, modeled on the former Czechoslovakia’s Charter 77 — named after the year in which it was signed — was released last week to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 10, 1948.
The document, a full English-language translation of which will be published in the Jan. 15 issue of the New York Review of Books, argues against a one-party state and says a government “exists for the protection of the human rights of its citizens.”
It says that the failure to reform will only lead to increased social instability and injustice — the products of a regime that has brutally “stripped people of their rights, destroyed their dignity, and corrupted normal human intercourse.”
The translation can be viewed on the Review’s Web site.
University of California professor Perry Link wrote in an introduction to his translation: “The prominent citizens who have signed the document are from both outside and inside the government, and include not only well-known dissidents and intellectuals, but also middle-level officials and rural leaders,”
The signatories also include peasants, writers, entrepreneurs, lawyers and teachers.
The charter prompted police to detain at least two and harass others involved in the document’s composition and signing, human rights groups including Chinese Human Rights Defenders and Reporters without Borders reported.
Section 3, Article 18 of the charter argues for a “federated republic” of China based on respect for freedoms. The rights enjoyed in Hong Kong and Macau must be preserved, it says.
“With respect to Taiwan, we should declare our commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy and then, negotiating as equals, and ready to compromise, seek a formula for peaceful unification,” it says.
Article 18 also calls on China to treat minorities equally. Although it does not name the highly sensitive areas of Tibet and Xinjiang, where brutal crackdowns on freedom of expression and religion have been used to silence calls for autonomy, equal treatment or independence from China, it calls for a “federation of democratic communities of China.”
“We should approach disputes in the national-minority areas of China with an open mind, seeking ways to find a workable framework within which all ethnic and religious groups can flourish,” the charter says.
In the days leading up to the charter’s release, legal expert Zhang Zuhua (張祖樺) and Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) — the former chairman of Independent Chinese PEN, an NGO that supports freedom of speech — were taken into police custody.
Liu, an activist known also for his role in the Tiananmen demonstrations of 1989, is still in custody, rights groups say. Zhang was released after interrogation.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition