China has been openly saying that it is trying to win the “hearts and minds” of Taiwanese. However, its continued detention of democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) and cancelation of his wife’s travel permit to China may have only achieved the opposite.
Lee “disappeared” after his arrival in the Chinese mainland from Macau on March 19, setting off alarm among his family and friends. It took 10 days for Chinese authorities to confirm that they had detained him — on suspicion of engaging in “activities endangering national security” — while continuing to refuse to disclose his location and details of his alleged illegal activities.
Considering that the last time a Taiwanese — Falun Gong practitioner Bruce Chung (鍾鼎邦) — was detained by Chinese authorities, in 2012, took more than 50 days before his release, bringing Lee back home is likely to be a long, drawn-out process.
While Beijing has made evident its disrespect for human rights and disregard for the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議), the government’s actions are equally regrettable.
Other than confirming Lee’s detention and issuing a statement expressing regret while blasting China’s decision to stop his wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), from visiting, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) — the nation’s highest government agency in charge of China affairs — and the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) have been unable to provide a solution.
The government undoubtedly wants to secure Lee Ming-che’s safety and speedy release, and it is understandable that it is being extra cautious to avoid causing any incident that could complicate the process and endanger him, but the MAC and the SEF have not played their roles well and appear to be at their wits’ end in the face of Beijing’s oppression.
It is in part due to the government’s inability to bring Lee Ming-che home that Lee Ching-yu had to take matters into her own hands and act on her own, exposing herself to risk.
The “forced disappearance” has become a method frequently employed by Beijing to silence and intimidate dissidents.
Taiwan, a nation that takes pride in its democracy, should, more than others, be vocal about human rights violations.
As the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, along with other accords the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government signed with China, have proven to be ineffective, the government should take Lee Ming-che’s case as a timely reminder that human rights issues should not be sidelined with cross-strait relations, and declare that there will be no talks with China unless there is first a consensus on human rights.
What role does the government play in guaranteeing the rights of its citizens? How can it better address human rights abuses by the Chinese government?
These are the questions the government should bear in mind and broach next time it enters negotiations with Beijing.
As for China’s proclamation that it wants to win the “hearts and minds” of Taiwanese, a survey released by the Cross-Strait Policy Association last month showed that 77.2 percent of Taiwanese regard Beijing as being hostile to Taiwan, of which 43.8 percent believe it is “extremely inimical.”
Beijing can count on the number to continue to rise, as it continues ignoring the pleas of Lee Ming-che’s family.
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