The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday expressed concerns over the situation in Tibet amid an intensifying crackdown by Chinese authorities and called on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to voice his concerns to Beijing.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said she was “heartbroken” about increasing reports of self-immolation protests by Tibetans in her meeting with Dawa Tsering, director of the Tibet Religious Foundation of H.H. The Dalai Lama, yesterday, said Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), deputy executive director of the party’s New Frontier Foundation think tank.
Tsai reiterated the DPP’s support for the region’s democratic movement and the well-being of Tibetans in Taiwan, Hsiao said.
Tsering handed Tsai a letter from the Dalai Lama, who expressed his recognition and praise of Tsai’s efforts in Taiwan’s democratic development and in the presidential election last month, she said.
According to Hsiao, the Tibetan spiritual leader also explained the current situation and operation of the Tibetan government-in-exile in the letter, saying that he had withdrawn himself from the political decisionmaking process of and had decided to concentrate on religious affairs.
The DPP released a three-point statement on the latest developments in Tibet after the meeting.
The Ma administration should condemn China’s crackdown on Tibetan activists and actively pay attention to the human rights problems in Tibet, as well as the development of the democratic movement in China, rather than staying mum on the issue, the DPP said.
The party expressed gratitude for the Dalai Lama’s interest in Taiwan’s democracy and his care for Taiwanese who suffer from natural disasters.
Human rights and democracy have always been the DPP’s core values, the party added, and those values should and would be included in Taipei’s engagement with Beijing.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS