Dozens of non-governmental organizations (NGO) yesterday called on the Chinese government to free jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), praising the political dissident for his non-violent struggle for human rights and democracy in China.
The remarks came one day after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) publicly urged Beijing to release Liu and “solve major human rights incidents with honesty and confidence.”
Chinese dissidents should be treated with more tolerance, the Presidential Office said in a statement.
The former literature professor was given the award on Friday after the Nobel committee lauded the dissident for his “long and non--violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.”
In a joint statement, the groups wrote that the award sent a clear signal to Beijing that the “world stands in solidarity with [the] Chinese people who share Liu’s vision for a strong, prosperous and above all, democratic, China.”
Any future cross-strait exchanges, the group wrote, should abide by democratic principles and include mention of human rights and personal liberties.
Among the 48 NGOs that signed the two-page statement were groups representing lawyers, educators and doctors, as well as government watchdogs, human rights associations and an organization that monitors cross-strait exchanges.
The statement said they “shared the very same common and fundamental values [Liu] fights for.”
“Political change starts with fundamental human rights like freedom of speech,” said Lee Tien-tsai (李天財), an attorney working with the Chinese Association for Human Rights.
Taipei, he said, must play a bigger role in helping accelerate the democratic movement in China.
Pointing to recent comments by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) that the need for democracy and freedom in China was “irresistible,” Taiwan Labor Front director Chang Feng-yi (張峰益) said there was optimism that Beijing could carry out political reforms.
In a rare interview aired on CNN last Sunday, Wen talked about his belief that freedom of speech was “indispensable,” adding he would “advance political restructuring within the realm of my capabilities.”
He said there was freedom to criticize the Chinese government on the Internet.
“His comments were in the right direction, but the first step to the [necessary] reforms begins with releasing Liu,” Chang said.
Liu Chin-wen (劉敬文), a representative for Society Reform Frontline, said he wanted to thank the Nobel committee for making a decision to award the Chinese dissident. Beijing had warned that the move could hurt China-Norway relations.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
RSS