World Uyghur Congress (WUC) spokesman Dilshat Rexit yesterday protested National Security Bureau Director Tsai Der-sheng’s (蔡得勝) remarks hinting that Uighur activists are terrorists, urging that Taiwan, as a sovereign country, should have its own national security policies, instead of following those of Beijing.
“I didn’t really expect that I would be allowed into Taiwan, so before I departed, I contacted some human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and asked them to help once I was denied entry,” Dilshat, now a Swedish citizen, told a news conference held in Taipei after his arrival.
“Taiwan is a country on its own, you elect your own president, so I never understand why you always have to follow Beijing’s policies,” he said.
Dilshat was referring to a remark by Tsai during a legislative meeting that two terrorist suspects were denied entry in 2009 ahead of the World Games.
Although Tsai did not say who the two suspects were, one of the foreign nationals denied entry ahead of the games was WUC secretary-general Dulkun Isa.
“The accusation was baseless and politically motivated, because no other country in the world — except China — calls Uighurs terrorists,” Dilshat said. “The objectives of the Uighurs are very clear — politically, economically and culturally, we want to be on our own. Environmentally, we don’t want our homeland to be damaged.”
He said that China’s rule over Uighurs is effectively colonial rule and the struggle of the Uighurs is resistance against Chinese colonialism.
“Our struggle is not terrorism, not a single Uighur supports terrorism,” he said.
Yiong Cong-ziin (楊長鎮), one of the co-founders of Taiwan Friends of Uyghurs, agreed.
“Taiwan apparently does not have its own national security,” Yiong said. “As we can all see, [WUC President] Rebiya Kadeer and the Dalai Lama are welcome in most countries around the world, but President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] declined to allow them into Taiwan. In my opinion, Taiwan following China’s national security measures is the deepest security threat to this country.”
Dilshat called on the Taiwanese government to take action to support the democracy movement in China.
“China is causing threats to most of its neighbors, including Taiwan and Japan, and only when China becomes a democracy with rule of law can there be stability in the region and can Taiwan be secure,” he said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by