President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Ronald McDonald were among the gold medal winners for human rights abuses at an unofficial Olympic closing ceremony in Taipei yesterday.
Ahead of the official Beijing Olympic closing ceremony yesterday evening, groups including the Taiwan Friends of Tibet (TFOT), the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and the Taiwan Free Burma Network organized a “closing ceremony for the Bloody Olympics” yesterday morning.
TFOT vice chairman Yang Chang-chen (楊長鎮) said that while many had hoped that China would become more open and improve its human rights record ahead of the Olympics, the reality has been disappointing.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
“Abuses not only increased, but China has also exported abuses by supporting authoritarian regimes in Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe,” Yang said.
As a result, Hu was awarded the “lifelong achievement in human rights abuses” award.
In addition to Beijing’s continuing oppression of Tibetans and its support for repressive regimes abroad, Hu’s achievements include the military crackdown on the 1989 Tibetan demonstrations in Lhasa during his time as communist party secretary-general of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
“Before the Games, China talked about improving human rights, but they have killed many dissidents in China and Tibet and tried to cover things up by curbing press freedoms,” Tashi Tsering (札西慈仁), chairman of the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress-Taiwan, said before presenting a placard and gold medal to an activist wearing a Hu mask.
Next up was the “I’m lovin’ it — the money” award, presented to an activist dressed as Ronald McDonald.
“Tens of thousands of people in Myanmar were slaughtered by the military junta and Myanmar’s democracy movement leader Aung San Su Kyi has been under house arrest for 12 years,” said Yang Yung-chu (楊永助), a Burmese-Chinese living in Taiwan who presented the award.
“The military junta doesn’t care about international pressure because China has their back,” Yang said, explaining that China supported Myanmar in exchange for its resources and direct access to the Indian Ocean.
“It’s true that McDonald’s has long been an Olympic partner, but they’re spending more money than ever in Beijing, because they only see a market of 1 billion potential customers, but not people being killed,” he said.
“McDonald’s does not see the 200,000 people who have died in ethnic cleansing in Darfur. China supported the Sudanese government and provided them with weapons in exchange for oil,” he said.
Ma, meanwhile, received the “Now-we-know-who-you-really-are” award.
“Ma told us that he would consider boycotting the Games if repression in Tibet didn’t stop before the Olympics — but now we know who he really is,” Yang said.
At the end of the ceremony, an activist dressed as a Formosan black bear emerged to present the “Only-gold-medal-for-Chinese-Taipei” award to Uni-President (統一集團) — the only Taiwanese business to sponsor the Beijing Games.
Other award recipients included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), who sat with top Chinese officials and proclaimed Beijing “home” to Taiwanese athletes, and another Olympic partner, Visa.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
Typhoon Krathon, a military airshow and rehearsals for Double Ten National Day celebrations might disrupt flights at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in the first 10 days of next month, the airport’s operator said yesterday. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a statement that it has established a response center after the Central Weather Administration issued a sea warning for Krathon, and urged passengers to remain alert to the possibility of disruptions caused by the storm in the coming days. Flight schedules might also change while the air force conducts rehearsals and holds a final airshow for Double Ten National Day, it added. Although
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
RSS