Chinese dissident Yang Jianli (楊建利) yesterday urged Taiwan not to forget about democracy, freedom or its sovereignty when pursuing closer relations with China.
“I would like to call on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to use the language of democracy and freedom when developing closer ties with China. Taiwanese should pay more attention to their sovereignty so that it won’t be damaged when interacting with China,” Yang told a press conference coorganized by domestic civic groups to voice their support for democracy and human rights activists in China.
“Taiwanese should defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and make Taiwan’s democracy more mature so that it can become a role model for China to follow,” he said.
Yang also took the opportunity to express his gratitude toward individuals and civic groups in Taiwan who joined a globally coordinated campaign for his release when he was imprisoned in China from 2002 to 2007.
He discussed the movement for human rights in China.
“The movement is not only about human rights, it’s also about democracy and fundamental political reform in China,” Yang said, adding that the fact that more than 10,000 people inside China used their real names to sign a petition supporting Charter 08 showed that the movement is gaining momentum.
Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠), an attorney and a member of the Taipei Bar Association’s (TBA) Human Rights Protection Committee, agreed with Yang that human rights issues should not be left out of cross-strait exchanges.
“During the past year, the TBA received many visitors — individual lawyers and bar associations — from China,” Kao said. “Each time they came, we mentioned human rights in China and the discussions weren’t an obstacle to our exchanges.”
“If a civic group can do so, why can’t the government?” Kao asked.
He said that it was because of pressure from human rights groups and governments around the world that Chinese dissident Feng Zhenghu (馮正虎) was finally allowed to go home after living in Tokyo’s Narita Airport for more than 90 days.
Exiled Chinese writer Bei Ling (貝嶺) said earlier efforts were paying off.
“Twenty years ago, liberals in China voiced support for [former Czech president] Vaclav Havel, and now he’s voicing support for Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波),” Bei said. “Seven years ago, my friends and I campaigned for Yang’s release, and today it’s his turn to campaign for other imprisoned dissidents’ release.”
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS