The Taiwan Association for Human Rights (
"Although the proportion of legislators signing [the statement] is not too high, we are satisfied with the result because it is a good start," said lawyer Hsueh Ching-feng (薛欽峰), a member of the association.
Hsueh admitted, however, it had been hard to persuade some lawmakers to sign.
"Some legislators declined to sign the statement because of worries that doing so might create difficulties for them in traveling to China in the future," Hsueh said.
The association said it had contacted all legislators or their offices in July, at the start of the Legislative Yuan's summer recess.
Among the excuses the association said it was given when it asked legislators why they had not signed were "I don't have time," "I lost the fax" and "my office was unable to reach me." Some legislators' offices had said the legislator in question was overseas.
Of the 52 legislators who had endorsed the statement as of yesterday, 34 were from the DPP, seven from the KMT, eight from the PFP, and two from the TSU. One was an independent.
None of Taiwan's political parties has an official policy on human rights in China, but the DPP government came to power vowing to make Taiwan a "country of human rights."
Hsueh said that although civil exchanges between Taiwan and China are on the rise, Taiwanese residents often appear indifferent toward rights issues in China.
"We should not remain indifferent toward human rights in China because of ideological differences or historical disputes, because human rights are universal values that are beyond politics," Hsueh said.
The association urged legislators to endorse the statement because they now have more chances to visit China and can express Taiwan's concern over human rights there.
DPP Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (
Shen said that although China saw human-rights activists as subversive, from Taiwan's perspective "supporting the development of basic human rights in China means guarding Taiwan's democracy."
Another DPP lawmaker, Lin Cho-shui (
"From this point of view, Taiwan has a responsibility to support human-rights protection in China," Lin said.
Huang Mab (黃默), professor of political science at Soochow University and a member of the president's human-rights advisory group, said the lawmakers' endorsements were "a very good start."
Huang said he looked forward to seeing more Taiwanese show their concern about the matter because "such concerns would have a positive influence on Taiwan."
"The concept of human rights is still in its initial stage in Taiwan. Deeper involvement in human-rights issues in China can help to deepen the democratic spirit among Taiwanese," Huang said.
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