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.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
RSS