Exiled World Uyghur Congress (WUC) president Rebiya Kadeer said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) at the end of last month that she wishes to visit Taiwan in August, a plan a Kadeer-friendly group in Taiwan suggested Kadeer defer.
Taiwan Friends of Uighurs (TFU) co-director Marie Yang (楊月清) said that Kadeer should give President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) six months to sort out cross-strait relations before she visits the nation.
Kadeer said that if the Taiwanese government would issue her a visa, she hopes to lead a WUC delegation to Taiwan to meet with Tsai.
Photo: Chang Mao-sen, Taipei Times
Kadeer also said that the WUC has been in close contact with the TFU, founded by Paul Lin (林保華), and plans to create a WUC representative office in Taiwan and has sent an envoy to provide more information about East Turkestan to the Taiwanese.
Yang said that the TFU would suggest inviting Kadeer to attend a cultural or academic event in Taiwan “so that it would be less politically sensitive and Beijing would not have anything to protest.”
However, Yang said that the visit could be arranged for a later time, saying: “Do not put pressure on Tsai in July or August, because there is no rush.”
Yang said that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had blocked visits by Kadeer, but the government would definitely allow her to visit, but added that since this is a sensitive time for cross-strait relations, the visit should take place six months later.
Other TFU executives suggested that Kadeer could visit Taiwan to talk about democratization, human rights and Muslim issues in Taiwan on the invitation of the Chinese Muslim Association, instead of focusing on China.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Chih-chung (吳志中) said that Kadeer is no ordinary person, and her visit to Taiwan would not be a simple diplomatic issue, but a political one.
He said that although the new government adheres to new values and has different considerations, this is not a decision that the ministry could make alone.
If Kadeer files an application, the ministry should discuss the issue with the Mainland Affairs Council and the National Security Council, as “this is concerns the interests of the nation as a whole,” he said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
RSS