Surrounded by dozens of friends, Tibetan activists and curious onlookers, the Dalai Lama’s nephew Jigme Norbu launched his 400km-plus walk from Taipei to Kaohsiung at Longshan Temple yesterday morning.
Having walked more than 11,000km, mostly in North America, to raise public awareness on Tibet and advocate independence for it, Norbu will take 13 days to walk from Taipei to Kaohsiung, meeting with supporters and Tibetans living in exile in Taiwan, as well as giving lectures on the Tibet issue at various universities and high schools across the nation.
“We chose today to begin the ‘Walk for Tibet’ in Taiwan, because today is a day with very important significance,” Norbu told the crowd at the square in front of the temple.
“Today is Human Rights Day; it’s also the anniversary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama winning the Nobel Peace Prize,” he said. “We’re also here to honor Nobel Prize-winner Liu Xiaobo [劉曉波], who is still in jail. We want to also celebrate the recent release of Burmese democracy fighter Aung San Suu Kyi.”
The Dalai Lama was awarded the peace prize in 1989, while Aung San Suu Kyi was released by the military junta in Myanmar last month.
Amid the crowd was former Democratic Progressive Party secretary-general Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), a long-time supporter of the Tibetan movement since he attended graduate school in the US in the 1980s and helped accommodate Norbu’s father, Thupten Jigme Norbu, when he visited Taiwan in 1998.
“During our long struggle for democracy, we received help from all over the world,” Lee told the crowd. “So when we enjoy our freedoms today, we should not forget less fortunate nations and peoples; we’re obliged to give them a hand.”
Turning to Norbu, Lee said Tibetans may have a long way to go in the pursuit of freedom and independence, but that they were not alone.
“Taiwan will always support you,” Lee said.
Norbu and his group reached Yingge Township (鶯歌), Taipei County, in the evening, where they met the local Tibetan community. They depart from Yingge Railway Station this morning and are to walk to Pusin Railway Station in Yangmei City (楊梅), Taoyuan County, where Norbu will give a lecture at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu City in the evening.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS