The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday responded very cautiously to questions about the first anniversary of the deadly Xinjiang riots.
Responding to questions about what has come to be known as the July 5 incident, Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Liu Te-hsun (劉德勳) told a routine press conference that “we all care about what happened [the Xinjiang riots]. Facing a stable development of cross-strait relations and how to construct such a stable foundation … both sides are working hard to address their own domestic affairs.”
AVOIDING ANGER
Asked for comment yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said the council had chosen not to respond to what has been acknowledged as an international human rights abuse incident to avoid upsetting Beijing as President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration seeks to foster closer economic ties with China.
“The China-leaning Ma administration did not condemn Beijing for using force against protesters in Xinjiang a year ago and also never questioned China’s human rights violations in other areas,” the legislator said.
UNQUALIFIED
“Precious values such as democracy, freedom and human rights have been developing well in Taiwan, but Ma never promotes those values to Beijing. He is not qualified to be the president of a democracy,” Tsai said.
Violent street battles took place in Xinjing in July last year, killing at least 140 people and leaving more than 80 injured in the deadliest ethnic unrest to hit the region in decades.
Also See: China increases police force in Xinjiang
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