Tearful Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and Falun Gong practitioners yesterday called on the government to lend a helping hand to Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioner Chung Ting-pang (鍾鼎邦), who was taken away by law enforcement agents in China on Monday to “assist in an investigation of Falun Gong activities” and has not been heard from since.
A Mainlander, Chung frequently travels to his father’s hometown in Yongkang City, Jiangxi Province, to visit his father’s relatives, even after his father passed away 15 years ago.
However, when he was about to leave the country after his most recent visit, he was taken away by Chinese authorities at the airport in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, his wife said.
“His relatives drove him to the airport and watched as he walked into the restricted area, but he didn’t arrive at the airport in Taiwan,” Chung’s wife, surnamed Lee (李), told a press conference at the legislature. “We contacted his relatives in China immediately; they went to check and told us that he was taken away from the airport to ‘assist in an investigation of Falun Gong activities.’”
“It’s the Dragon Boat Festival tomorrow [Saturday], a day for family reunions, but I will have to ‘celebrate’ it without my husband, my daughter without her father, and my mother-in-law without her son,” a tearful Lee said.
Chung’s mother, surnamed Lai (賴), called on the government to help her son, especially since it says that cross-strait relations are the best they have been in decades.
“My son is a good man, he treats me well and looks after his father’s relatives in China, even 15 years after my husband’s death,” Lai said. “Falun Gong is his religious belief. It’s a religion that teaches truth, compassion and tolerance — my son’s personal religious beliefs should not be the reason for his arrest.”
Lee said the family has sought help from the Straits Exchange Foundation, but the only reply they have received is that the foundation would notify its counterpart in China, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, and then wait for its reply before taking any action.
“I want the government to be more proactive,” she added.
DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) urged the Chinese government to respect everyone’s right to freedom of religion and unconditionally release Chung. Cheng also called on the Taiwanese government to insist on clauses to protect the rights of Taiwanese in China in any future agreements that Taipei signs with Beijing.
“Everyone in Taiwan is now waiting to see if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — who vowed to make Taiwan a human rights-based country — can help a fellow countryman come home for the Dragon Boat Festival through all means and all channels necessary,” said attorney Teresa Chu (朱婉琪), spokesperson for the Falun Gong Human Rights Lawyers Working Group.
Indonesia has sent hundreds of riot police to a tiny island after protests broke out against a China-backed project that would displace thousands of residents. About 1,000 people protested in Batam City on Monday over a plan to develop Rempang island into a Chinese-funded economic zone, including the construction of a multibillion-dollar glass factory, that would displace about 7,500 people. Some protesters clashed with security forces outside a government agency, wielding machetes, Molotov cocktails and stones, police said, adding that dozens were arrested. Beijing has poured money into infrastructure and resource projects in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and its investments have previously caused
CALL FOR PEACE: Czech President Petr Pavel raised concerns about China’s military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and its ‘unfriendly action’ in the South China Sea The leaders of three diplomatic allies — Guatemala, Paraguay and Palau — on Tuesday voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN on the first day of the UN General Debate in New York. In his address during the 78th UN General Assembly, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr urged the UN and all parties involved in cross-strait issues to exercise restraint and seek a peaceful resolution. “The well-being and prosperity of nations and their economies are intrinsically linked to global peace and stability,” he said. He also thanked partner nations such as Taiwan, Australia, Japan and the US for providing assistance
‘HARASSMENT’: A record 103 Chinese warplanes were detected in 24 hours, posing severe challenges to security in the Taiwan Strait and the region, the ministry said Taiwan yesterday told China to stop its “destructive unilateral actions” after more than 100 Chinese warplanes and nine navy ships were detected in areas around the nation. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) described the number of warplanes detected in 24 hours as a “recent high,” while Beijing has so far refrained from issuing any official comment on the sorties. “Between the morning of September 17th to 18th, the Ministry of National Defense had detected a total of 103 Chinese aircraft, which was a recent high and has posed severe challenges to the security across the Taiwan Strait and in the region,”
China would be making “a grave strategic mistake” if it tried to attack Taiwan, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley said in an interview with CNN that aired on Sunday. Asked by host Fareed Zakaria whether the US could repel a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, Milley said: “It is entirely possible.” Milley reiterated that the US still maintains the Taiwan Relations Act, and that it wants “a peaceful outcome between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, and whatever that is between those two peoples.” “Militarily, I think China would make a grave strategic mistake if they attempted to
RSS