Human rights advocacy groups and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are to commemorate the 24th anniversary of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre today with a vigil at Liberty Square in Taipei and a forum on China’s human rights situation.
The groups, which include the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights, Taiwan Democracy Watch, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and a student group for the promotion of democracy in China, yesterday said this year’s event would have a different focus from previous years.
They used to seek the political rehabilitation of the victims of the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing on the nights of June 4 and June 5, 1989, but this year they said they would demand that those responsible for the massacre be held accountable by Beijing.
“Because Beijing has never stopped oppressing dissidents, demanding their rehabilitation is a passive move, which is why we have decided to take our demands a step further this year by highlighting accountability,” Jin Yu (金昱), a representative of the student advocacy group, told a press conference.
Wang Dan (王丹), an exiled leader of the Tiananmen protests who is now a visiting assistant professor at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, announced the launch of a Web site called laqingdan (“making a list”) to help seek transitional justice and “lay down a solid foundation for future political order.”
Wang wrote in a press release that the Web site (www.laqingdan.net) would list cases of state violence, corruption, human-rights infringement and anti-democracy actions that have occurred since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. It would also list the Chinese officials who allegedly committed the violations.
The lists would be submitted to the UN’s Human Rights Council and governments of Western democracies, Wang said.
Democracy advocates would also urge those governments to deny entry to Chinese officials on the list and freeze their overseas assets, Wang added.
Wang is to be one of the panelists in a DPP-organized seminar today on human rights in China, which will examine the development of human rights in China after the 1989 crackdown.
The seminar is a prelude to nine meetings on China affairs, which are scheduled to be held from June 20 in response to the public’s call for a “clear and definite” DPP policy on China.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS