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
VIGILANCE: While two of the cases are family members of a nurse, there is no sign of community spread and the source of infection is identifiable, the CECC said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four new domestic COVID-19 cases associated with a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital. Since the first case was identified on Tuesday last week, five healthcare workers — two doctors and three nurses — at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taoyuan General Hospital have tested positive for the virus. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that two of the four new cases are the husband and daughter of a nurse (case No. 863) who had earlier been confirmed to have COVID-19. The husband (case No. 864)
INCURSION: After 13 PLA aircraft flew into Taiwan’s ADIZ, the US Department of State said that China should rather ‘engage in meaningful dialogue’ with Taiwan US President Joe Biden’s administration on Saturday urged China to stop placing military pressure on Taiwan, while calling on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to engage in peaceful dialogue. The statement by the US Department of State was issued after 13 Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. The air force scrambled fighter jets to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing air defense assets until the planes left the ADIZ. The US “notes
CHANGE OF GUARD: Hsiao Bi-khim’s attendance at Joe Biden’s inauguration will come as a boost to those in Taiwan who feared that the new US administration would be less friendly than that of Donald Trump to the nation Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is to attend US President Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol after she was invited by the US Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, a news release issued by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US said last night. The news came as a surprise as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been reticent about the matter, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members had accused the Democratic Progressive Party administration of hedging its bets on the Republican Party. Asked about when Hsiao received the invitation, the ministry did not
FAMILY UNIT: The CECC warned that the eldest sister of the latest case, who also has COVID-19, visited Taoyuan’s Chungping evening market on Tuesday and Wednesday The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a domestic case of COVID-19, associated with a recent cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital, and two imported cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the latest case (No. 885) is a woman in her 50s, who is the third daughter of case No. 881, a man in his 90s. The woman is the main caregiver of her elderly father, who had been hospitalized earlier this month and was treated by a nurse (case No. 852) from Monday to Thursday last week, he said, adding that