Tibetan activists will hold a Free Tibet Concert next month to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising, saying they hope to show that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) stand on Tibetan issues is not representative of all Taiwanese.
Freddy Lim (林昶佐), lead vocalist of heavy metal band Chthonic, said yesterday: “We want to tell the world that we Taiwanese stand by the values of freedom and democracy and that whatever Ma says [about Tibet] doesn’t represent us all.”
Ma said earlier this year that he was in favor of autonomy for Tibet but not independence.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The July 11 concert, arranged by Guts United Taiwan and Taiwan Friends of Tibet, is the latest in a series of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising.
The failed uprising was followed by the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile.
Lim said he had invited the Dalai Lama to the concert when they met in Dharamsala, India, earlier this year.
“The Dalai Lama told me that he would love to come to Taiwan anytime if he could, but it depended on other factors, too, such as the Taiwanese government’s attitude,” Lim said.
Although it may not be possible for the Dalai Lama to attend the concert given that Ma said last year and earlier this year that the timing was “not appropriate” for a visit, the Dalai Lama gave his blessing to the concert, Lim said.
Lim and about a dozen other volunteers yesterday handed out flyers for the concert at Vieshow Cinema Square in Taipei.
On an overpass connecting two buildings in the square behind Lim hung a Tibetan flag and a large banner bearing the words “Free Tibet” in English and a picture of Lim and his wife, Chthonic band leader Doris Yeh (葉湘怡).
Yeh said they had planned to have a banner with “Free Tibet” printed big in Chinese, “but the owner of the building was afraid that it was too sensitive and the Taipei City Government could find excuses to not approve it or bully [the owner] because of the ad.”
The concert will feature 10 Taiwanese bands and artists including Chthonic, Fire Extinguisher, LTK Commune, Dog G, Panay, Chang Jui-chuan (張睿詮) and Enno Cheng (鄭宜農) as well as a wide variety of music from folk to rock and hip-hop, Lim said.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
RSS