Local officials and public figures across party lines yesterday commemorated the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre while highlighting democratic values and the importance of learning from history.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) posted on Facebook a photograph of a calendar page for June 4, saying that every year, one day in China is “forgotten.”
“While Taiwan had similar issues, we rediscovered these forgotten days, because we no longer need to keep historical truths hidden, allowing us more time to ponder the future,” Tsai wrote in Chinese.
Photo: CNA
She expressed her hope for no part of the world to have certain days removed from memory and said: “A free Taiwan supports the freedom of Hong Kong.”
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) expressed regret for all those who were killed in Beijing on June 4, 1989, as well as for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
“We must cherish our democracy and also concern ourselves with those who do not yet enjoy democracy,” You told reporters.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
He called on other democratic nations to jointly pressure Beijing into enacting reforms and allowing self-determination for Chinese.
Separately, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Facebook repeated his annual call for Beijing to face history and make amends for the massacre.
Freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law are Taiwan’s core values, Ma wrote, adding that Beijing pursuing the concepts would bring Taiwan and China closer, and help resolve its conflict with Hong Kong.
Photo: CNA
On Wednesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) also urged Beijing to face the ghost of its past, and answer the calls for political reforms, democracy and liberty that the massacre represents.
The KMT supports the promotion of democracy, liberty and human rights, and it would not be blind, deaf, or mute about what it knows is the truth, Chiang said, adding that the party continues to believe in the goals it stated in 1989 of democratizing politics and liberalizing the economy.
At a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that the massacre was a tragedy of the modern era, and that he believed China would inevitably embrace democracy.
The Taipei City Government has been in talks with the Shanghai branch of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, with both sides leaning toward holding this year’s Taipei-Shanghai twin-city forum via teleconference, Ko said, adding that the choice of software was still being discussed.
Suddenly halting the forum, which has been held for more than a decade, would set back relations, Ko said, adding that a platform must exist for mutual goodwill to be expressed.
In a radio interview yesterday, Hong Kong dissident and bookstore owner Lam Wing-kei (林榮基) said that he supports Taiwan’s stance of doing more than saying.
Lam’s bookstore, Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣書店) — named after the bookstore he managed in Hong Kong — opened in Taipei on April 25.
China is set on “reclaiming” Hong Kong, a goal evident since the beginning of anti-extradition bill protests, Lam said.
Taipei has helped nearly 300 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists without loudly trumpeting its efforts, which is smart, Lam said, expressing the hope that the government would allow Hong Kongers to stay in Taiwan for longer than six months.
Lam yesterday afternoon attended a news conference held by the New Power Party to mark the anniversary and its support for Hong Kong.
Hong Kongers should protect themselves and leave the territory if they feel that it is not safe there, and stay in Taiwan to save their energy for the long-term fight against China, he said.
Additional reporting by Shen Pei-yao, Chung Li-hua and Wu Su-wei
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique