Falun Gong practitioners yesterday staged a mass sit-in in front of Taipei City Hall to mark the 21st anniversary of the start of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) persecution of the group’s members, calling on the world to recognize the CCP’s crime.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the CCP’s arbitrary passage of national security legislation for Hong Kong and its violation of press freedom by banning reports of excessive water levels along the Yangtze River, which caused flooding in 27 Chinese provinces, the world has woken up to the CCP’s true evil nature, Taiwan Falun Dafa Association president Chang Chin-hwa (張錦華) told a news conference.
Dubbing this year “the year of awakening,” Chang said Falun Gong has gathered signatures from 550 lawmakers from 27 nations for a joint statement to condemn the CCP’s brutal infringement of human rights and to recognize the efforts of Falun Gong.
Of the 550 politicians, 34 are Taiwanese legislators from various parties, which places the nation fourth in terms of the number of signatures gathered, she said.
Hopefully, the world will realize that now is the time to choose virtue and justice, to eliminate the malicious party that is the CCP and to liberate the more than 1 billion Chinese, she said.
“The Qing Dynasty 120 years ago waged a war against other nations and was obliterated. Today, China is also waging a war against other nations with viruses and its reign of terror,” New School For Democracy chairman Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元) said.
With the pandemic, Beijing’s suppression of pro-democracy Hong Kong demonstrators and the severe flooding throughout China, he believes that the CCP’s days are numbered, he said.
The US administration is mulling barring CCP members and their families from entering the US, Tseng added.
The US House of Representatives in May passed a measure that seeks to punish Chinese officials for detaining more than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, he said.
Tseng said he is glad that the US fired the first salvo against the CCP’s wrongdoings and human rights atrocities, and hopes the rest of the world will join in the sanctions against the CCP.
Falun Gong has long been collating information on former CCP members, some of whom did not request anonymity when they revealed the party’s vices to Falun Gong, he said.
This information is invaluable and hopefully will offer the international community a clearer roadmap in its efforts to sanction the CCP, he said.
After the guests made speeches, Falun Gong practitioners lit candles and mourned in silence the estimated more than 4,500 fellow practitioners who have reportedly been killed by the CCP.
Before the sit-in, about 1,000 Falun Gong members marched in the city’s Xinyi District (信義) to raise awareness of their cause.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
HOTEL HIRING: An official said that hoteliers could begin hiring migrant workers next year, but must adhere to a rule requiring a NT$2,000 salary hike for Taiwanese The government is to allow the hospitality industry to recruit mid-level migrant workers for housekeeping and three other lines of work after the Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal by the Ministry of Labor. A shortage of workers at hotels and accommodation facilities was discussed at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee. A 2023 survey conducted by the Tourism Administration found that Taiwan’s lodging industry was short of about 6,600 housekeeping and cleaning workers, the agency said in a report to the committee. The shortage of workers in the industry is being studied, the report said. Hotel and Lodging Division Deputy Director Cheng
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
RSS