The government should take a tough stance over the disappearance of Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), family members and human rights advocates said yesterday, while calling on the Chinese government to issue an official statement on his status.
Lee, a former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) staffer who works at Taipei’s Wenshan Community College, disappeared after entering China from Macau on Sunday.
“He did not contact me as planned, did not check into his hotel and his mobile phone is unreachable,” Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李淨瑜), said at a news conference with human rights advocates at the legislature in Taipei.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“I do not want to be yet another family member making a scene, but it has already been five days. If the Chinese government has detained or arrested my husband, please tell us why,” she said.
Lee Ming-che had gone to China to “preach” and “share” Taiwan’s experience of democratization with his Chinese friends, she said, adding that her main objective in going public was to prevent Chinese authorities from “splashing dung” on his reputation by framing him with trumped-up charges.
“I cannot protect his body, but I can protect his honor,” she said, “[Lee Ming-che] has always cared deeply about human rights in China and if that is the reason he has been arrested, we are willing to face the consequences.”
Taiwan Association for China Human Rights chairman Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏) said the Chinese government routinely denies arrests it says are made for the “purposes of national security.”
The Mainland Affairs Council earlier this week said that it had sought to contact Chinese authorities about the case, but had failed to receive any response.
It urged workers at Taiwanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) traveling to China to be cautious, saying that harsher rules granting security organizations broader authority to detain foreign NGO employees had increased the risks.
Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎) said the council’s response was “disappointing.”
“If promoting universal human rights and democratic values is right, the government’s response to this kind of disappearance should not just be to warn NGO workers going to China to be more careful,” she said, calling on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to personally issue a proactive response.
The Chinese government should publish available video footage of Lee Ming-che and announce how it intends to handle his disappearance if it denies arresting him, she said.
“Our government has issued only weak responses to China restricting our citizens’ freedom of movement for a long time now — we need it to issue an official statement [condemning the disappearance],” Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Kao Jung-chih (高榮志) said, adding that the council’s actions were “passive.”
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
CROSS-STRAIT CONCERNS: At the same US Congress hearing, Mira Resnick said a US government shutdown could affect weapons sales and licenses to allies such as Taiwan A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be a “monster risk” for Beijing and likely to fail, while a military invasion would be extremely difficult, senior Pentagon officials told the US Congress on Tuesday. Growing worries of a conflict come as China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan, holding large-scale war games simulating a blockade on the nation, while conducting near-daily warplane incursions and sending Chinese vessels around its waters. US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said a blockade would be “a monster risk for the PRC [People’s Republic of China].” “It would likely not succeed, and it
IMPORTS: Fifty-four million imported eggs with a value of more than NT$200 million had to be destroyed, mostly because they expired in storage facilities Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) last night announced that he would resign from his post. Local media on Sunday reported that Chen had resigned due to controversy over the ministry’s egg import program. Later that same evening, the Executive Yuan said that Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) had asked the minister to stay on to resolve the issue. Chen Chi-chung last night made public his decision to resign on Facebook, saying that this time he would not be dissuaded. Chen Chi-chung earlier yesterday apologized for the furor surrounding the egg import program, but added that misinformation had made the problems worse. The government was
‘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,”
RSS