China's secretive state security police have set up a special task force to clamp down on students and political dissidents in the run-up to the 15th anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre, sources said yesterday. \n"The universities are under strict control and there are several kinds of restrictions and regulations dealing with the anniver-sary," a Beijing academic said. \n"For the universities, there is a special organ run by the State Security Ministry. They are responsible for a wide range of monitoring in the university district," said the academic, who has been warned not to speak with foreign media. \nThe 1989 massacre in the streets of Beijing killed hundreds, some say more than a thousand, unarmed students and citizens and has remained a highly sensitive topic, with students on the capital's campuses strongly discouraged from discussing the issue, he said. \n"The students don't dare to speak about this because they know they will get in trouble. They can discuss these things in an abstract way, but specific discussion will only lead to trouble," the academic said. \nWhile the security police are monitoring Beijing campuses, they have also placed a group of known dissidents under house arrest or strict surveillance. \nThe 70-year-old leader of the Tiananmen Mothers, Ding Zilin, whose son was killed in the 1989 massacre, has been put under surveillance and told not to accept visitors in the lead-up to the anniversary. \nShe is followed by police even when she leaves her home to buy food and daily necessities. \nDing's 15-year effort demanding the Chinese government give a full accounting of the massacre and find out who was responsible for ordering the military to fire on unarmed civilians has led to her nomination for this year's Nobel Peace Prize. \nOther members of her grouping, like Huang Jinping, whose husband was shot and killed in the crackdown, are also facing similar police harassment. \nLeading dissidents and social critics like Bao Tong (鮑彤), Liu Xiaobo, Hu Jia and Jiang Qisheng are all under police surveillance, they told reporters in recent days. \nTheir visits and meetings with others have been recorded and their phones tapped since the National People's Congress met in March. \n"I don't think it is a very good idea to come and visit me right now," Liu said. "It's probably better to wait until after June 4." \nThe police harassment has been condemned by the US and human rights groups, who have blasted as ineffective new constitutional amendments adopted in March that aim to safeguard human rights. \n"We oppose any efforts to limit freedom of speech and urge China not to restrict its citizens from engaging in debate on important and sensitive issues of public interest," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Thursday. \nBoucher said Washington was particularly troubled by reports indicating that some actions had been taken to prevent Chinese citizens from meeting with US officials.
BLUE WAVE: The KMT’s Chiang Wan-an defeated the DPP’s Chen Shih-chung and is to become Taipei mayor, while President Tsai Ing-wen stepped down as DPP chairperson after many of the party’s candidates, handpicked by the leadership, performed poorly The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday flipped key mayoral seats in Taipei, Taoyuan and Keelung, and won control of 13 out of 22 cities and counties in the nine-in-one local elections. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) last night resigned as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson over a poor showing by the party’s candidates, who were handpicked by the DPP leadership rather than chosen through primaries. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) won its first high-profile race with Hsinchu mayoral candidate Ann Kao (高虹安) defeating Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) of the DPP with 45.02 percent of the vote to Shen’s 35.68 percent. Voters were choosing more than
UNDETERRED: The US chip designer’s plan showed that Taiwan remains attractive for investment by global companies despite cross-strait tensions, Wang Mei-hua said US graphics chip designer Nvidia Corp is planning to relocate its Hong Kong-based logistics center to Taiwan, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said on Wednesday. The government had been in discussions with Nvidia regarding tax incentives to facilitate the move since last year, Wang said in an interview with the Central News Agency, adding that the two sides had reached a consensus. Wang did not provide details about the timetable for the move or the planned tax arrangements for Nvidia. The relocation would boost the local economy, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is a major supplier of graphics processing
Kaohsiung police last week busted a money laundering operation suspected of seeking to interfere in tomorrow’s local elections. The operation was allegedly headed by a man surnamed Lee (李), who had received NT$9.5 billion (US$306.18 million) from China over the past six months, Kaohsiung police said yesterday, adding that Lee’s ring is suspected to be part of a larger Chinese effort to interfere in the elections and support pro-China candidates. Officers arrested Lee, 35, and his girlfriend, searched his mansion, and seized the money he had allegedly received from China and three luxury vehicles, police said. The operation was disguised as an online
CAUTION: Wearing a mask in crowded places and for people with chronic illnesses or allergies can help prevent COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, the CECC said The mask mandate for outdoor settings is to lifted on Thursday, and the weekly cap on international inbound travelers is to be removed on Dec. 10, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said at its regular news conference yesterday. The center also announced that starting from Friday, children aged five to 11 can receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster, and that rules for visiting hospital patients are to be partially eased from Dec. 10. While wearing a mask will no longer be mandatory outdoors, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) reminded the public that it would still be required
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