Chinese dissident Chen Siming (陳思明) yesterday urged the government not to deport him back to China after he refused to board a plane at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport during a stopover on a flight bound for China.
Chen, who has been arrested multiple times in China for publicly commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre, said he hoped that the US or Canada would grant him political asylum.
He has been on the run since escaping China two months ago, Radio Free Asia quoted him as saying in a report.
Photo courtesy of a reader
The Mainland Affairs Council said it is working to resolve the matter with government agencies, but did not elaborate.
The dissident had been in Cambodia and Thailand before reports that Lu Siwei (盧思位), a Chinese human rights lawyer, had been extradited from Thailand, prompting him to flee, Radio Free Asia reported.
“Chinese public security’s efforts to harmonize is becoming increasingly cruel and insane,” Chen wrote on X yesterday in a post that has since been deleted.
“They have freely summoned and detained me without any care to the proper legal procedures, confiscated my cellphone and tried to have me tested for mental conditions,” he said, adding that he was forced to leave his country due to intolerable conditions.
In a video attached to the post, Chen asked the US and Canada to grant him political asylum, and urged Taipei to not deport him.
A resident of Hunan Province, Chen marked the anniversary of the massacre by holding a sign in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021. He was arrested each time.
Chinese authorities have detained Chen ahead of the massacre’s anniversary in the past few years, he said.
“I did not escape to benefit from the economic conditions in the US, but to avoid the absence of human rights, dignity and rule of law in China, which has shown no cause for hope,” he said.
Chen said that he does not want to bring “trouble” to Taiwan.
Hopefully, Taipei could sympathize with his bid for temporary sanctuary in Taiwan, as he does not have a US visa and Beijing revoked his passport.
Chinese human rights advocate Wang Jianhong (王劍虹) in May said that Chen had written online that he was about to be detained by Chinese public security agents and had refused to delete the post, resulting in threats of a prison sentence.
New School for Democracy chairman Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元) yesterday urged Taipei to help Chen as it has done in similar cases.
The government has helped people fleeing from persecution in China to obtain asylum in a third country, Tseng said, citing the cases of dissidents Yan Kefen (顏克芬) and Liu Xinglian (劉興聯) in 2019.
Chen should have the same rights as someone with refugee status certified by the UN, Tseng said.
TAIWAN PROTECTION MEASURE: US Army General Charles Flynn would not say where in the Asia-Pacific the missiles would be sent, but only that they would arrive in 2024 The US is to send medium-range missiles including the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) and Tomahawk to the Asia-Pacific next year to deter a Chinese attack on Taiwan, US military news Web site Defense One reported. The report cited comments US Army General Charles Flynn made during the annual Halifax International Security Forum on Nov. 19. “We have tested them and we have a battery or two of them today,” Flynn was quoted as saying. “In [20]24. We intend to deploy that system in your region. I’m not going to say where and when. But I will just say that we will
UNUSUAL UPTICK: There are more flu-like illnesses in northern China than in the past 3 years, but data from Beijing showed that known pathogens are responsible Responding to an uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it has instructed international airport and port quarantine centers to raise their alert levels, and plans to issue an alert to healthcare practitioners. The number of flu-like illnesses reported in northern China has been increasing for five consecutive weeks, and is higher than the same period in the past three years, CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said. “According to the WHO’s latest statement, issued yesterday, information provided by Chinese government showed that the illnesses were mainly reported among children, and the illnesses were attributed
LOYALTY: The 10 active and retired soldiers betrayed the nation and its people by leaking and passing on military secrets to China, the High Prosecutors’ Office said Ten former and current military officers were yesterday indicted on charges of spying for China, including two who allegedly filmed themselves pledging loyalty to Beijing. The High Prosecutors’ Office requested life imprisonment for the suspects in light of the severity of the crime. The 10 active-duty and retired officers included members of the 601st Brigade of the Aviation Special Forces comprising attack helicopter squadrons and elite combat units in charge of defending northern Taiwan, including Taipei. The other suspects came from Huadong Defense Command, in charge of defending the eastern coast; Kinmen Defense Command, in charge of defending Kinmen and Matsu; and one
‘OPEN TO DIALOGUE’: Her alliance with Vice President William Lai is based on their commitment to preserve the nation’s freedom and democracy, Hsiao Bi-khim said Taiwan should “trust, but verify” reports that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) denied that Beijing plans to invade Taiwan in 2027, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vice presidential candidate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told reporters yesterday. “We anticipate and we hope that Chairman Xi Jinping was sincere when he said there was no timetable” for bringing Taiwan under control by force, said Hsiao, who earlier this week resigned as the representative to the US to join the ticket of DPP nominee, Vice President William Lai (賴清德). Borrowing a phrase from former US president Ronald Reagan — which US President Joe Biden also used after
RSS