Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday criticized the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC), accusing it of being unwilling to get in touch with Tibetan exiles and the Tibetan government-in-exile or show concern for Tibetans’ struggle for freedom.
The Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday reviewed next year’s budget for the Mongolian and Tibetan Foundation, an organization resorting under the commission. As the foundation has asked for funding mostly to enhance ties with Mongolian and Tibetan regions under Chinese administration, DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) said it was overlooking the relationship between Taiwan and the exiled Tibetan government.
“Are you in touch with the Tibetan government-in-exile?” Chen asked MTAC chief secretary Chen Hui-ying (陳會英) during the meeting’s question-and-answer session.
“We have contacted some exiled Tibetans,” Chen Hui-ying said, but was interrupted by Chen Ming-wen, who insisted that Chen Hui-ying answer whether the MTAC or the foundation had been in touch with the exiled government. Chen Hui-ying did not answer directly.
“Okay, since you are the government agency in charge of Mongolian and Tibetan affairs, let me ask you this,” Chen Ming-wen said. “A new head of the exiled government has just recently been sworn in. His name is Lobsang Sangay. Do you know how old he is and which school he graduated from?”
Chen Hui-ying pondered the questions and finally answered that Lobsang Sangay was 43 years old and graduated from Harvard University, after an aide reminded her.
“You’re in charge of Tibetan affairs and you don’t know the answers? That shows you don’t care about exiled Tibetans,” Chen Ming-wen said.
He then asked: “Now, please tell me, what is the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile called?”
Chen Hui-ying answered: “Lobsang Sangay,” but when Chen Ming-wen said he was asking for his title, Chen Hui-ying uttered, after a hint from her aide: “Kalon… first Kalon?”
“No, it’s called Kalon Tripa. How can you not know this and serve as the chief secretary of MTAC?” Chen Ming-wen said.
“You are unable to answer any of my questions about the background of the new leader [of the exiled government], this shows that you have not been willing to get in touch with them at all,” he said.
He went on and asked for her comment on Lobsang Sangay’s remarks that China’s occupation of Tibet was an act of colonialism.
Chen Hui-ying said the MTAC “respects his personal comments,” leading Chen Ming-wen to slam the MTAC of surrendering to the “one China” policy.
Chen Hui-ying disagreed and said the government has always followed the “one China, with each side having its own interpretation” principle, without elaborating how the principle was different from the “one China” policy.
DPP Legislator Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財), on the other hand, slammed the MTAC for not showing any concern for the 10 Tibetans who protested Chinese rule of Tibet through self-immolation while many governments around the world had done so.
Commenting on what happened at the legislature yesterday, Taiwan Friends of Tibet president Chow Mei-li (周美里) said she was shocked by the MTAC’s ignorance of the Tibetan government-in-exile, and its reluctance to learn about the background of its new leader.
On the other hand, Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Taiwan president Tenzin Chompel said he was not surprised that the MTAC knows nothing about exiled Tibetans.
“Actually, since the MTAC considers Tibet to be part of the People’s Republic of China, we don’t want to have anything to do with them anyway,” he said.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS