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.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS