A documentary on exiled Uighur rights activist Rebiya Kadeer and a film featuring ordinary Tibetans’ views on China will be screened in five cities around the country on Thursday to mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), an opposition magazine said yesterday.
The Movement, a magazine established by former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), and the Taiwan Friends of Tibet will co-host the event.
“[The PRC] will celebrate its 60th birthday on Oct. 1. While China is deemed a rising power in politics and economics, we want to tell the world about its hegemonic nature and that its brutal treatment of Tibetans and Uighurs has not changed,” Lo said.
The suffering of Tibetans and Uighurs under the Chinese regime should be revealed as it celebrates the 60th anniversary of its founding, Taiwan Friends of Tibet chairwoman Chow Mei-li (周美里) said.
“Since the March uprising last year, [Beijing] has continued to arrest Tibetans,” Chao said.
One of the two films to be shown in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung on Thursday is the 10 Conditions of Love, a documentary about Kadeer, the leader of the World Uyghur Congress who lives in Washington in exile, and directed by Australia-based Jeff Daniels.
Also to be shown is Leaving Fear Behind by Tibetan director Dhondup Wangchen, who traversed thousands of kilometers to ask ordinary Tibetans what they feel about the Dalai Lama, China and the Olympic Games and completed the interviews in March last year.
The footage was smuggled out of Tibet under extraordinary circumstances and edited in Europe, while Wangchen was arrested in July last year on allegations of “inciting separatism and stealing, secretly gathering, purchasing and illegally providing intelligence for an organization, institution, or personnel outside the country.”
Chao said the Chinese authorities had ignored calls by Amnesty International and many human rights groups to release Wangchen, who has reportedly been tortured in prison.
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