Twenty-one exiled Chinese democracy activists condemned Beijing's violent crackdown on protests in Tibet during a press conference in Taipei yesterday.
"We cannot and will not be silent," the activists said in a joint statement. "Our silence will be a message to the brutal Chinese Communist Party [CCP] regime that it could benefit from the Olympics while hurting its own people."
The activists, who came from several countries, including the US and Australia, have come to Taiwan to observe tomorrow's presidential election.
PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES
They went into exile following their participation in various campaigns or demonstrations for democracy, including the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989.
"A beast does not show its wild side everyday -- but it does at key moments," said Yang Jianli (楊建利), chairman of the Institute for China in Taiwan.
"A lot of people have the wrong idea about the communist regime" because of China's rapid economic development, Yang told the press conference. "People forget that the Chinese communists have always been violent at heart."
Wang Dan (
Hence, all those who are threatened by the regime, "whether you're Tibetan, Taiwanese, a Falung Gong practitioner, a member of the underground churches, or a democracy activist, we should all stand together to make change," Wang said.
Xue Wei (薛偉), president of the Chinese Democratic Solidarity Union, accused the Beijing government of being insincere about peacefully resolving the Tibet issue.
"Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao [溫家寶] said that he will hold talks with the Dalai Lama under two conditions: first, the Dalai Lama give up Tibetan independence, and second, the Dalai Lama must urge the Tibetans to stop acts of violence," Xue said.
"But these two conditions are what the Dalai Lama has been advocating for years," he said.
The activists further urged the Chinese government to allow freedom of the press, release all political prisoners, stop arrests of human rights and democracy activists and ban blacklisting.
In another media conference, Tibetan Representative to Taiwan Tsegyam showed pictures of the dead bodies of demonstrators and video clips of military trucks and tanks moving into Tibet.
The Tibetan government in exile had received the images from various media organizations and private sources, he said.
"These images show that the killing and repression are still going on," Tsegyam said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS