Independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) yesterday formed the Taiwan Parliamentary Group for Tibet for the current legislative term, while calling on the Democratic Progressive Party administration to go along with the Dalai Lama, who on Sunday during a livestream said that he would like to pay the nation another visit.
The group was joined by 46 lawmakers across party lines, making it larger than the iteration in the previous legislative session, Lim said.
After the Buddhist leader expressed his desire to visit the nation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that a visit would go ahead “when the time is convenient for both sides,” Lim said, asking when it would be a “convenient time” for the nation.
Photo: CNA
The nation should adopt a firmer stance on its support of human rights and say: “Whenever is a convenient time for the Dalai Lama is a convenient time for us,” the lawmaker said.
Thanks to the efforts of the previous group, the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission was abolished, allowing Tibet a “normalized and equal” channel for exchanges with the nation, he said.
The new group would continue to uphold the rights of Tibetans in the nation, but also concern itself with Beijing’s arbitrary implementation of the Hong Kong national security legislation, its establishment of internment camps in China’s Xinjiang region and its infringement on religious freedom in Tibet, he said.
Hopefully, the group would function as a hub that could rally international support for Tibet and human rights, Lim added.
Tibet signed a peace treaty with China, but within eight years it proved to be a failure, Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama chairman Dawa Tsering said.
Tibet is a symbol of peace worldwide, yet it cannot live in peace with China, he said.
He said that he hopes to see discussions about Chinese oppression grow in Taiwan, which has managed to keep its sovereignty in the face of daunting threats by Beijing.
AMPHIBIOUS EXERCISES: The defense ministry said that it had detected 24 Chinese PLA Air Force planes entering Taiwan’s air defense zone over the previous 24 hours Chinese movements around Taiwan were “abnormal,” Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday, flagging recent amphibious exercises in addition to drills Taipei has observed in China’s Fujian Province. Taiwan has reported a rise in Chinese military activity over the past week as dozens of fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships, have operated around the nation. “Our initial analysis is that they are doing joint drills in September, including land, sea, air and amphibious,” Chiu told reporters at the legislature in Taipei. The “recent enemy situation is quite abnormal,” he said. The comments followed a statement from the
IN MOURNING: Tsai visited the site and spoke with family members of those killed, while all the major presidential candidates said they would temporarily halt campaigning A fire and subsequent explosions at a golf ball factory at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park (屏東科技產業園區) killed at least seven people, including four firefighters, and injured 98, while three were still missing, authorities said yesterday. The blaze at Launch Technologies Co’s (明揚國際) plant on Jingjian Road raged for more than 12 hours after it started at about 5pm on Friday, officials said. The Pingtung County Fire Bureau early yesterday used large excavators to search for missing people, while family members waited at the scene. Pingtung County Fire Bureau Director Hsu Mei-hsueh (許美雪) said the bureau received a call about the fire at 5:31pm
DETERRENCE: The president on Thursday is to launch the first indigenous submarine, which is to enter sea trials next month before being delivered to the navy next year Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two new, domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles to bolster its deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines, the head of the program said. Taiwan has made the Indigenous Submarine Program a key part of an ambitious project to modernize its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who initiated the program when she took office in 2016, is expected to launch the first of eight new submarines on Thursday under a plan that has drawn on expertise and technology from
SDG AGENDA: Eswatini’s king told the UN that including Taiwan in the body is an essential next step to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Marshall Islands President David Kabua on Wednesday called on the UN to rescind its interpretation of Resolution 2758, which bars Taiwan from participating in the international organization. There is still a “visible crack” in the UN, as it “will never be whole and complete without the meaningful participation of the 23 million people of Taiwan,” Kabua said in his address on the second day of the General Debate at the 78th General Assembly in New York. He also criticized the UN’s specialized agencies, meetings and mechanisms for what he described as their continuous efforts to close the doors to journalists and visitors