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PRC erodes rights abroad: forum

Panelists attend the International Human Rights Forum held by the Memorial Foundation of 228 at the National Central Library in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

China’s emergence as a new economic power may be threatening human rights and freedom in other countries, speakers at the International Human Rights Forum in Taipei said yesterday.

“Twenty years ago, the world condemned the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] regime for its crackdown on the Tiananmen Square demonstrations,” said former presidential adviser Ruan Ming (阮銘), a one-time CCP official who was forced into exile in the late 1980s for promoting political reform.

“Now things are a little different, with Beijing and Wall Street working to bring a new economic order to the world: China makes the merchandise and Wall Street invests,” Ruan told the forum, hosted by the Memorial Foundation of 228.

Ruan said US economists were increasingly interested in the profits to be made by investing in China, while overlooking human rights abuses there.

“In fact, in addition to exporting goods, the CCP is also exporting ideas against human rights, freedom and democracy,” he said, citing as examples China’s support of the authoritarian regimes in North Korea, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Iran and Cuba.

“This crisis of democracy is not just a crisis for Taiwan, but for the entire world,” he said.

Exiled Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan (王丹) said “the CCP is trying to tell the world that the economy is more important than remembering Tiananmen Square.”

“It’s the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square [Massacre], yet no one seems to care much,” he said. “This is especially apparent in Taiwan.”

He called on Taiwanese to support Chinese democracy activists in countering the CCP regime.

For many, “human rights” and “freedom” are abstract concepts, World Uyghur Congress president Rabiye Kadeer said.

They think they will never have to face political persecution as long as they do not participate in political activities, but an authoritarian government can affect all aspects of life and even destroy an entire people, she said.

“Over the past 60 years since China occupied East Turkestan [also known as Xinjiang], its violation of the Uighurs’ civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights has never stopped,” Rabiye said in a statement.

She was unable to attend yesterday’s forum because it conflicted with a World Uyghur Congress meeting in Washington.

“While Chinese immigrants continue to pour into East Turkestan, the Uighurs are faced with the crisis of becoming a minority in our own land and [watching our] culture die out,” the statement said.

“Uighurs are arrested for no reason, religious practices are banned. We face discrimination in terms of economic activities and education and we’re even discouraged from using our language,” it said.

Political commentator Paul Lin (林保華), another panelist at the forum, said that in 1954, Uighurs accounted for 75 percent of the population in Xinjiang, but today are believed to make up less than 50 percent of the population.

Lin said that studies in Japan indicated that China’s nuclear tests in Xinjiang had killed more than 190,000 Uighurs, while affecting the health of another 1.3 million locals and 270,000 Japanese tourists who have visited the region.

“China often accuses the Uighurs of being terrorists, but I wonder who the real terrorists are,” Lin said.
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