Who still remembers the Chinese government's brutal military suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square 13 years ago today? People in Hong Kong and Taiwan have not forgotten, nor have international human rights groups. Every year since 1989, demonstrations have been held on June 4 in major cities around the world to commemorate those democracy activists who died in the crackdown or have been imprisoned. The Chinese government also remembers in its own way -- with annual roundups of dissidents and activists ahead of the anniversary. The Tiananmen massacre has become an indelible scar.
Thirteen years on, more than 200 of those arrested for pro-democracy activities are still in prison, according to the human rights group Amnesty International. More dissidents continue to be detained.
One of this year's high-profile detainees is Yang Jianli (
Denying dissidents entry for political reasons is a common tool of authoritarian regimes. Arrested dissidents and political activists, however, can also serve the state in a variety of ways. They can be held up as examples to terrorize the rest of the populace against pushing for reforms. If a government wants to bolster its image either at home or abroad, releasing jailed activists is always worth a few public-relations points. And dissidents always make dandy bargaining chips when foreign governments or human rights groups press for their release.
Chinese authorities excel at both squashing protests and extracting the last pound of flesh from dissidents to further their own agenda. A good example was China's decision to allow dissident Fang Lizhi (
The KMT government also used to blacklist dissidents and deny them entry to Taiwan. It didn't end the practice until 1996, after many dissidents managed to sneak back into the country, in coordination with massive resistance movements organized by the opposition. Taiwan's human rights situation has improved vastly since then. Even a controversial figure like Justin Lin (
The different human rights situations on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are reflected in the differences in how Yang and Lin have been handled. Beijing should understand that arresting democracy activists does not provide a security guarantee -- it only creates a liability. The harder it tries to suppress internal dissent, the greater the people's resistance will be, and the further China will be from winning the hearts of the people of Taiwan. Only by adopting universal human rights standards will China's domestic pressures be balanced.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
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