US Secretary of State John Kerry has released Washington’s 16th annual report on religious freedom, which showed stark differences between Taiwan and China.
While there were no reported cases of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice in Taiwan last year, it was a much different story across the Taiwan Strait, the report showed.
The report said that Beijing “harassed, assaulted, detained, arrested or sentenced to prison” religious adherents and there were also reports of “physical abuse and torture in detention.”
Kerry said that China was a “country of particular concern” and that, along with eight other nations, it engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom.
Severe violations were defined as “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom, including torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges, abduction or clandestine detention of persons.”
“Nations that protect this fundamental freedom will have the partnership of the US and the abiding commitment of the American people as we seek to advance freedom of religion worldwide,” Kerry said.
The report said that the world last year witnessed the largest displacement of religious communities in recent memory.
“In almost every corner of the globe, millions of Christians, Muslims, Hindus and others representing a range of faiths were forced from their homes on account of their religious beliefs,” it said.
“Out of fear or by force, entire neighborhoods are emptying of residents, communities are disappearing from their traditional and historic homes, and dispersing across the geographic map,” the report said.
However, with one exception, the report was favorable toward Taiwan.
The one area it singled out for change is a Taiwanese labor law that does not guarantee domestic workers and caretakers the right to a day off, making it difficult or impossible for them to attend religious services.
Despite this, the report said that the Constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom, and “in practice” the authorities generally respect religious freedom.
According to the report, 35 percent of Taiwanese consider themselves to be Buddhist and 33 percent Taoist.
“Researchers and academics estimate that as much as 80 percent of the population believes in some form of traditional folk religion,” it said.
The Falun Gong Society of Taiwan, with more than 1,000 branches nationwide, said that its membership list exceeds 1 million.
Religious groups that constitute less than 5 percent of the population include Catholics, Protestants and Muslims.
Over eight pages, the report detailed some of the worst individual cases of religious intolerance in China and said Beijing fears that religion might threaten state or Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interests.
It said CCP members are required to be atheists and are forbidden from engaging in religious practices — a significant ruling, because “the vast majority of public-office holders are CCP members.”
Unregistered religious believers and Falun Gong adherents are among those reportedly in detention solely for their religious association in 24 high-security psychiatric hospitals for the criminally insane, the report said.
People in these hospitals are reportedly given medicine against their will and sometimes subjected to electric shock treatment, it said.
Cash rewards are offered to citizens who inform on Falun Gong practitioners, and practitioners who are detained are subjected to various methods of physical and psychological coercion in attempts to force them to renounce their beliefs, the report said.
Tibetan Buddhists and Uighur Muslims experience “institutionalized discrimination” throughout China, because of their religious beliefs as well as their status as ethnic minorities with distinct languages and cultures, it said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS