Dozens of Tibetans living in Taiwan — as well as their Taiwanese supporters and a Thai supporter of the Tibetan cause — yesterday staged a 12-hour hunger strike in Liberty Square in Taipei to remember the nine Tibetans who have protested Chinese occupation of their country through self-immolation since March and they called on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to show more concern for human rights in Tibet.
Reciting Buddhist chants under the lead of several monks while sitting in front of placards bearing the names and pictures of those who sacrificed themselves for religious freedom in Tibet by setting themselves on fire, Tibetans and Taiwanese alike joined internationally coordinated action for “International Solidarity Day on Supporting Tibet” yesterday.
“People have chosen to sacrifice their lives to defend their country and their faith, and for us who are alive, it’s our inevitable responsibility to carry on their mission,” Dawa Tsering, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama — the de facto embassy of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Taiwan — told the crowd in the Liberty Square. “I hereby also urge Buddhists in Taiwan to lend a helping hand to your fellow Buddhists who are suffering to maintain their faith in Tibet.”
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The latest wave of protests broke out in Tibet, as well as among Tibetan communities around the world, following the arrests of more than 300 Tibetan monks at the Kirti Monastery in Sichuan Province, China, because they organized an event to commemorate the 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.
Among the protests, nine people — aged between 17 and 29 — set themselves on fire.
Besides mourning his fellow countrymen, Dawa also reminded Taiwanese about dealing with China.
He said that in the 1950s, the Tibetan government had signed a 17-point peace treaty with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to guarantee freedoms of religion, Tibetans’ rights to their own culture and language as well as genuine autonomy for Tibet, “but the PRC unilaterally broke the treaty.”
“Later on, when we [the government--in-exile] negotiated with China in recent decades, we’ve only asked for genuine autonomy as outlined in the PRC constitution, but the PRC never agreed to it,” Dawa said. “This shows that the PRC is an insincere government.”
He went on to remind Taiwan that it should take the example of Tibet as a precaution, as the world watches Taiwan’s exchanges with China wondering if Taiwan could become the next Tibet.
Taiwan Friends of Tibet -president Chow Mei-li (周美里) said that so many people had sacrificed their lives to speak their minds “because we’re not doing enough to end their suffering and improve the situation.”
She called on the government to show more concern over human rights conditions in Tibet as cross-strait exchanges are enhanced.
“President Ma called on the Chinese government to follow the ideas of freedom and democracy as outlined by Sun Yat-sen during the Double Ten celebrations last week,” Chow said. “Well, this is a chance for Ma to show he was sincere about what he said, as a Straits Exchange Foundation delegation has just departed for China for a new round of cross-strait talks in Tianjin, China.”
Former deputy secretary--general of the Presidential Office, Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), also attended yesterday’s event, expressing her admiration for those who had sacrificed their lives to try to gain freedom and human rights in Tibet.
“I know how hard it must be for their families and friends, since my husband, Deng Nan-jung [鄭南榕] also fought for the freedom of speech in Taiwan through self--immolation in 1989,” she said. “Everyone who cares about human rights should show our support and concern for the nine Tibetan martyrs, as well as for their families and friends.”
A 12-hour hunger strike began right after a brief press conference in the morning, which ended with Buddhist rituals to calm the spirits at 9pm.
China appears to have built mockups of a port in northeastern Taiwan and a military vessel docked there, with the aim of using them as targets to test its ballistic missiles, a retired naval officer said yesterday. Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), a former lieutenant commander in Taiwan’s navy, wrote on Facebook that satellite images appeared to show simulated targets in a desert in China’s Xinjiang region that resemble the Suao naval base in Yilan County and a Kidd-class destroyer that usually docks there. Lu said he compared the mockup port to US naval bases in Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan, and in Subic Bay
Police are investigating the death of a Formosan black bear discovered on Tuesday buried near an industrial road in Nantou County, with initial evidence indicating that it was shot accidentally by a hunter. The bear had been caught in wildlife traps at least five times before, three times since 2020. Codenamed No. 711, the bear received extensive media coverage last year after it was discovered trapped twice in less than two months in the Taichung mountains. After its most recent ensnarement last month, the bear was released in the Dandashan (丹大山) area in Nantou County’s Sinyi Township (信義). However, officials became concerned after the
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
DETERRENCE: US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said cross-strait affairs are on the agenda at the US-ASEAN Special Leaders’ Summit The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the Czech Senate for passing a resolution supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO and other international organizations for the second consecutive year. The resolution was passed on Wednesday with 51 votes in favor, one opposed and 11 abstentions. In addition to the WHO, it also called for Taiwan’s participation in the “meetings, mechanisms and activities” of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Civil Aviation Organization and Interpol. In its opening, the resolution states that the Czech Republic “considers Taiwan as one of its key partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” while noting its