Beijing has finally held its trial of Taiwanese human rights campaigner Lee Ming-che (李明哲). As his wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), and many Taiwanese expected, he was “made to confess.”
Lee Ching-yu had expected this outcome and apologized to Taiwanese on her husband’s behalf before the trial. The confession was understandable, as a refusal to comply would have resulted in death, as in the case of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波).
As the result was known beforehand, China should come up with a new tactic, but unable to come up with any other scenario, it sticks to its old ways.
Beijing’s mouthpiece the Global Times said that it was a matter of “teaching the Taiwanese to follow Mainland law.”
If this really was a lesson planned ahead of time, they must have forgotten how they asked Lee Chun-min (李俊敏) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to strike a deal with Lee Ching-yu in private — one she flatly rejected.
The Chinese government kidnaps Chinese and Hong Kongers, as well as Taiwanese and other foreigners, and then makes them confess to crimes to legitimize Beijing’s brutish behavior.
That is why Lee Ching-yu said beforehand that the proceedings were not being held in a court of law, in a single sentence destroying China’s claim to “rule of law.”
The most bizarre thing in Lee Ming-che’s prepared confession was the expression of gratitude for the Chinese authorities’ “civilized handling of the case.”
This is not a Taiwanese turn of phrase — was it rather the result of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization? The Chinese authorities clearly told him to say this. It revealed a weakness of the apparently strong Chinese government, as it tries to hide its kidnapping and 177-day detention of Lee.
Next, China will issue a verdict to let us continue to admire its “civilized ways.”
It is like a Japanese Internet user said: “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is democracy’s biggest enemy.”
In the past, the Japanese were sometimes described as “economic animals” who paid scant attention to human rights matters around the world, but today the country has come under pressure from rogue nations, forcing it to amend its constitution and start paying attention to human rights.
This is the necessary consequence of rogue nations wanting to impose their values on the rest of the world.
Indeed, “we are all Lee Ming-che.” As our values are blocking the CCP’s expansion, every one of us might one day be subjected to the same treatment as Lee Ming-che: being kidnapped, made to confess and trampled upon.
Unfortunately, politicians in many Western countries have not understood the evil intent behind the CCP’s use of its values to make the whole world more amenable to its value system — or perhaps they only see the military expansionism, but remain blind to how China is using economic means to effect its expansion and buy off foreign politicians.
Its other approaches include cloaking its intentions in a veneer of culture, while infiltrating through the Chinese “fifth column” that exists in many Western countries.
Emphasizing economic gains from advancing industry and commerce can cause democratic values to retreat and weaken, creating a major crisis.
When dealing with the subversive activities of the Chinese “fifth column,” Taiwan, a member of the Western camp, is almost helpless.
Considering that retired major general Hou Shih-cheng (侯石城) was only given an eight-month prison sentence for trying to recruit military officials to develop a spy network for China, one cannot help but wonder if Taiwan’s judiciary — which is charged with maintaining the nation’s national security and social order — is not infiltrated by Chinese spies.
Paul Lin is a political commentator.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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