China is exploiting the passing of Buddhist master Hsing Yun (星雲) for political purposes, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, rejecting accusations that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government refused to allow a Chinese delegation entry to Taiwan for Hsing Yun’s funeral tomorrow.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) earlier yesterday said that a 38-member Chinese delegation scheduled to attend the funeral was canceled at the last minute.
“The DPP disregarded basic humanitarian principles and rudely rejected the mainland’s delegation to Taiwan,” Zhu said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The planned delegation would have been headed by former Chinese State Administration for Religious Affairs director Ye Xiaowen (葉小文) and TAO Deputy Director Long Mingbiao (龍明彪).
Five other TAO personnel, four officials from the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department and three officials from the TAO’s provincial-level agency would have also attended.
The MAC said that Beijing had not followed the mechanism to facilitate cross-strait visits and was wrongly blaming the DPP administration.
Photo: Chen Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
“When Chinese officials plan to visit Taiwan, they should follow protocol and provide their itinerary to the MAC, but we did not receive any messages from Beijing regarding attendance at the funeral,” a MAC official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The council on Friday denied Ye’s request to visit, saying that aside from evidence linking Ye to religious persecution and denial of religious freedoms, another factor was potential social disruption, as his visit for the 2009 World Buddhist Forum had sparked widespread protests.
Ye was denied entry to Taiwan mainly to ensure that Hsing Yun’s memorial service proceeds smoothly, the council said.
Long and other officials in the delegation did not utilize the appropriate MAC channels, and therefore were not granted permits to visit Taiwan, the MAC official said.
DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) yesterday said that “China is using the death of Hsing Yun to conduct united front tactics and disseminate propaganda in Taiwan.”
“This is unethical and highly disrespectful by exploiting the passing of a major religious figure,” Wang said.
Taiwan People’s Party caucus whip Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) called on Chinese authorities to avoid sensitive political matters during the funeral period, and urged the Chinese delegation to follow the MAC’s protocols to enter Taiwan.
The MAC welcomes other Chinese groups traveling to Taiwan for Hsing Yun’s memorial service, it said in a statement.
Taiwan has expedited approval of entry permits for about 120 people from China to attend the funeral, including relatives and family friends of Hsing Yun, delegations from Chinese Buddhist organizations, and Buddhist temple managers and other religious figures based in China, it said, adding that many of them arrived yesterday.
Hsing Yun, founder of the Kaohsiung-based Buddhist organization Fo Guang Shan, died on Sunday last week at the age of 95.
A memorial service is to be held at the Hsing Yun Cloud Dwelling Building tomorrow morning.
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
‘COMMITTED TO DETERRENCE’: Washington would stand by its allies, but it can only help as much as countries help themselves, Raymond Greene said The US is committed to deterrence in the first island chain, but it should not bear the burden alone, as “freedom is not free,” American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said in a speech at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research’s “Strengthening Resilience: Defense as the Engine of Development” seminar in Taipei yesterday. In the speech, titled “Investing Together and a Secure and Prosperous Future,” Greene highlighted the contributions of US President Donald Trump’s administration to Taiwan’s defense efforts, including the establishment of supply chains for drones and autonomous systems, offers of security assistance and the expansion of
RSS