Hong Kong is systematically removing reminders of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, the 33rd anniversary of the incident.
Authorities in Hong Kong, where people had held annual candlelight vigils at Victoria Park on the massacre’s anniversary for many years, had not received an application for such an event this year, she said on Facebook.
Statues commemorating the massacre, among other expressions of support for democracy, have been removed from university campuses in the territory without an explanation from authorities, Tsai said.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
“The collective memory of the Tiananmen Square Massacre is being systematically removed in Hong Kong,” she said, adding that such brutish methods would not eradicate people’s memories of the incident.
Increasing threats from authoritarian countries against democracies highlight the necessity of upholding democratic values and enhancing collaborations with like-minded international partners, Tsai said.
As authoritarianism is increasingly threatening democracy worldwide, Taiwan and other like-minded democracies must reinforce joint efforts to uphold democratic values, Tsai said, citing as examples of collaboration Japan’s donation of 1.24 million COVID-19 vaccine doses last year, as well as vaccine sharing between the US and its European allies.
Photo: CNA
We must cherish our democratic freedoms, but at the same time should be cautious when exercising our right to free speech, Tsai said.
Disinformation about COVID-19 might cause social unrest and place a heavy burden on medical personnel, Tsai said, referring to a controversy last month when TV celebrity Anthony Kuo (郭彥均) posted a screenshot on Facebook that he originally said represented a conversation with a medical professional who said that “many children passed away” from the virus in Taiwan.
The government denied that the alleged statement by a doctor represented the truth, causing a large number of people to say that Taiwan is trying to limit freedom of speech.
Tsai said she believes in transparency of information, adding that every member of the public is entitled to voice their opinion.
She said she believes that a diversity of opinions benefits society and that communication can help mitigate conflicts.
Taiwan’s widely praised COVID-19 pandemic response is the result of civilian oversight, while authoritarian governments undemocratic efforts to limit pandemic information might lead to the pandemic getting worse, she said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS