European and US officials condemned comments from Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye (盧沙野), after he on Wednesday said that Taiwanese would be “re-educated” after any annexation by China.
In an interview on French television, Lu accused the Democratic Progressive Party of “extremist” propaganda and turning Taiwanese against “reunification” with China.
“We will re-educate. I’m sure that the Taiwanese population will again become favorable of the reunification and will become patriots again,” Lu told BFM TV.
Photo: Screengrab from the BFM TV Web site
The term “re-education” has been used to describe Chinese authorities’ treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang.
European Parliament Subcommittee on Security and Defense Chairwoman Nathalie Loiseau was among the Western officials who on Thursday criticized Lu’s remarks on Twitter.
“To those who are indignant at [US House of Representatives Speaker] Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, I advise to reserve their indignation for the scandalous remarks of the Chinese ambassador, who promises the reunification of Taiwan against the will of its inhabitants and then their ‘re-education,’” she wrote. “This is where the scandal lies.”
Pelosi visited Taiwan earlier this week, with China launching live-fire drills in retaliation.
“Chinese threats to Taiwan, their destruction of democracy in Hong Kong & genocide of the Uyghurs show the need for a united & strong EU and alliance with US,” European lawmaker Guy Verhofstadt wrote.
“Genocide, reeducation, gulags, all being normalized for a new age of totalitarian evil,” wrote Paul Massaro, a Helsinki-based senior policy adviser to the US government.
In Washington, Center for Uyghur Studies director Abdul Hakim wrote that Lu’s remarks were reminiscent of Xinjiang concentration camps.
“Don’t believe us, now China is saying it will set up a concentration camp in Taiwan,” he wrote.
Reporters Without Borders president Pierre Haski said in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) that Lu’s statement was rooted in “the ideological differences between China and democracies.”
“I don’t think he [Lu] has a good grasp on the word ‘re-education.’ The impact of this word on Western audiences, it’s a very vicious, devastating statement,” he said.
Marc Julienne, director of the Centre for Asian Studies at the French Institute of International Relations, told CNA he felt that “re-education” was the worst word Lu could have used in front of a European audience, given Europe’s experiences during World War II.
“This remark not only showed the French what China’s intentions toward Taiwan are, but it also may further damage Lu’s image and that of China,” he said.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
RSS