Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday urged the government to take a more pro-active role in rescuing human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who has been detained by Chinese authorities and charged with subversion of state power.
Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), and members of a human rights group visited Lee Teng-hui’s residence in Taipei to seek his assistance in securing her husband’s release.
The former president said the government has to take more active measures to rescue Lee Ming-che, adding that it is useless if the government “can only express its concern” about the case, Taiwan Association for China Human Rights chairman Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏) quoted him as saying.
Photo: CNA
The National Security Council should form an interministerial task force to use all the leverage it has to bargain with China, Yang quoted Lee Teng-hui as saying.
Lee Ching-yu last month testified before a US House of Representative subcommittee about the arrest of her husband.
Lee Teng-hui described her testimony as “a correct and meaningful move.”
The former president thanked the US government for its help, while asking the Taiwanese government to be more involved in rescuing Lee Ming-che, Yang said.
Yang quoted Lee Teng-hui as saying that it was unimaginable that China has not revealed any information regarding Lee Ming-che’s whereabouts 87 days after his detention.
China is still like the “bandit” Lee Teng-hui dealt with during the Qiandao Lake Incident in 1994, in which Chinese robbers murdered Taiwanese tourists — an incident that Chinese authorities attempted to cover up, Yang quoted the former president as saying.
The former president praised Lee Ming-che’s sharing of Taiwanese ideas about democracy with Chinese, which was justifiable as China is also experiencing its own democratization, a major factor in the issue of Taiwanese independence, Yang said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office yesterday said it has hired a lawyer for Lee Ming-che per his request, adding that the case was of a criminal nature, not a human rights case as described by Taipei and Washington.
Lee Ching-yu, who in March announced that she would not hire a lawyer to defend Lee Ming-che, as it would amount to “putting up a show with China,” denounced the statement, saying it is ridiculous for Beijing to claim it is respecting the opinion of a person it has held incommunicado for 87 days.
“What Lee Ming-che did in China involved education, humanitarian aid and freedom of expression — all of which are acceptable in Taiwanese society,” she said. “However, China has accused him of involvement in criminal activities, which is the most important reason why China and Taiwan cannot communicate.”
“With his suffering, Lee Ming-che is making the world see how Chinese civilization has deteriorated and is warning the world against entering such a dangerous place,” she said.
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
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
RSS