March 10 marks the Tibetan National Uprising Day. Every year on this day, Tibetans in exile around the world stage demonstrations and hunger strikes to remind the world of the Tibetan uprising against the Chinese in 1959.
On the morning of Mar. 10, Tibetans in Taiwan as well as local Taiwanese social groups held a commemorative march in support of democracy, freedom and human rights in Tibet.
Since China invaded Tibet in 1949, innumerable Tibetans have died and at least 60,000 temples have been destroyed. More than a thousand Tibetans remain political prisoners, including the Panchen Lama, the world's youngest political prisoner. The Tibetan people have long been subjected to harsh pressure from the Chinese regime.
Religious leaders and political dissidents are arrested and thrown in jail. Temples and traditional culture are being destroyed while Tibet's ecological environment is ruined.
Since the 1990s, Tibet has become a favorite tourist spot for Taiwanese tourists and Tibetan Buddhism has become increasingly popular in Taiwan. Despite this, a majority of Taiwanese have turned a blind eye to the plight of the Tibetan people over the past 47 years.
Why is it that the tens of thousands of Taiwanese who flock to see the Dalai Lama and receive his blessings do not say a word about the long-term suffering in Tibet that the Dalai Lama represents? Like Taiwan, Tibet also faces historical distortions and unilateral declarations from China that it is a sacred and integral part of Chinese territory. How can Taiwanese, who are threatened by China's "Anti-Secession" Law just as the Tibetans are, remain silent?
Several countries supporting Tibet's independence or recognizing the Tibetan government in exile continue to take the opportunity offered by meetings with Chinese leaders to demand that China improve its human rights record. On Jan. 31, the Paris City Government passed a proposal to hoist the Tibetan national flag in front of the city hall on Mar. 10 to show support for Tibet's National Uprising Day and urge China to give Tibet a high degree of autonomy.
Taiwan should follow the French move and show its support for Tibet. It should immediately abolish the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission and respect the Tibetan people's right to self-determination. The people and government of Taiwan should make a joint effort to use the Tibet issue to build a channel to improve Taiwan's relations with the world.
Taiwan should also set the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as a short-term timeframe to monitor changes in China's democratic development. It should use it to pressure China to respect the right of national self-determination and allow its own people -- and people in other countries who long have been repressed and threatened by the Chinese government -- to enjoy direct democracy, freedom of speech, thought, assembly and movement, as well as other fundamental human rights and freedoms.
Wu Jiazhen is secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights.
Translated by Lin Ya-ti
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