As the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government seeks to establish closer ties with China, it should not forget about the Tiananmen Square Massacre or withdraw its support for the democratic movement in China, Chinese democracy activists said yesterday.
“Under the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] government, the Straits Exchange Foundation(SEF) — especially when Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) was its head — paid a lot of attention to issues concerning human rights, democracy and freedom in China,” said exiled Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan (王丹), one of the student leaders in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstration. “However, the MAC hasn’t touched on the issues since Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) took over.”
The KMT used to give substantial support to China’s democratic movement before it lost power to the DPP in 2000, Wang said.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, AP
“I understand that the current government wants to focus on developing closer economic ties with China, but I think the MAC should still pay attention to human rights conditions in China,” he said. “After all, cross-strait relations can only be stable after China becomes a democracy.”
He made the remark at a news conference in Taipei to announce a series of activities to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4.
Events will include an exhibition of videos and photos from the demonstration at the Taipei City Council next Sunday afternoon and a rally and a sit-in at Liberty Square in Taipei from 6:04pm on June 3 until 9pm on June 4.
“Economic development in China has put many people who previously condemned Beijing’s violent crackdown at Tiananmen Square in a difficult position, as they are forced to be friends with the repressors in exchange for economic interests,” said Wuer Kaixi (吾爾開希), another former Tiananmen Square student leader who now lives in Taiwan.
He cited Straits Exchange Foundation Deputy Secretary-General Pang Chien-kuo (龐建國) as an example.
Twenty years ago, Pang was one of the organizers of a rally in Taipei to support the demonstrators in Beijing during the crackdown.
“However, when I called [Pang] to invite him to next week’s events commemorating the tragedy, he said he would love to come, but had to decline, saying it would be inconvenient for him to do so because of his position,” Wuerkaixi said. “As a friend, I understand his concern, but I still feel sorry to hear that.”
“There should not be any ‘inconvenience’ for anyone to remember that unarmed students were bloodily repressed by an authoritarian regime,” he said.
Former New Party Legislator Yao Li-min (姚立民), who is helping organize the events in Taipei this year, said he had also sent an invitation to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who actively participated in events commemorating Tiananmen Square before becoming president.
“We haven’t heard back from the Presidential Office yet, but I hope he will come,” Yao said.
Also See: China blocks Hong Kong TV show on Tiananmen Square
Also See: Tiananmen Square revisited
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods