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.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net