Human rights advocates yesterday cautioned the global community against China’s expanding totalitarianism in Hong Kong and elsewhere, as they marked the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The New School for Democracy held a forum attended by lawmakers, academics and human rights advocates.
The school had invited Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members to the forum, but they said they could not comply with the schedule, school chairman Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元) said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
For the first time, Hong Kongers are this year banned from holding the annual June 4 Tiananmen vigil in Victoria Park, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) said, adding that it used to be the most significant event marking the massacre’s anniversary among ethnic Chinese.
Whether the Hong Kong government banned the event to prevent mass gatherings amid the COVID-19 pandemic or for political reasons, “refusing to forget” and letting the perpetrators know “we remember” is important, she said.
As a “global citizen” that hopes to rejoin the global community, Taiwan should demonstrate its democratic values by expressing support for Hong Kongers and remembering the massacre, as Taiwan might not maintain its democracy and freedoms if Chinese totalitarianism continues to expand, she said.
Remembering the massacre and its victims is “a war between remembrance and oblivion,” said National Tsing Hua University associate professor of sociology Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺), who resigned as deputy minister of the Mainland Affairs Council on May 20.
Remembering the massacre in Taiwan is meaningful, as it protects Taiwan’s democracy and resists China’s expanding totalitarianism, he said.
While Beijing hopes that people will forget the atrocity, Taiwanese should continue to remind people that tanks ran over democracy activists, students and citizens in the massacre, Chen said.
The Chinese Communist Party is now extending its violence to Hong Kong, he said, adding that this could also happen in other parts of the world.
Taiwan should act as “an ark of democracy” to connect like-minded partners, Chen said.
“We respect Chinese people who aspire for democracy and freedom. We have not forgotten them,” he said.
As seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, countries that have chosen to side with China to gain benefits would get their just deserts, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) said, urging other countries to be vigilant regarding the uncontrollable risk of China’s expanding influence.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RSS