A Taiwan-based Chinese dissident yesterday blasted the US, calling the country “as crooked as China” for rejecting an asylum request made by him and two other Chinese dissidents.
Cai Lujun (蔡陸軍) made the denouncement in an open letter, following the rejection of his asylum request by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
AIT said it turned down the application because “Taiwan has well-established and reliable mechanisms to assist asylum-seekers and to protect their rights,” so the case should be handled by Taiwan.
However, Cai said he disagreed that Taiwan has sound mechanisms to assist asylum seekers, citing numerous delays and difficulties he experienced in finding work and money to cover his expenses.
“We are like half-ghost and half-human being and like spiritual beggars, yet the US calls this a ‘well-established and reliable mechanism.’ Even Taiwanese officials will blush when they hear this,” he wrote in the open letter.
Cai, 40, a businessman in Hebei Province, China, was jailed for three years for criticizing the government. He arrived in Taiwan in July last year to seek asylum.
“I never expected that the so-called democratic Taiwan and democratic US would be the same as China. If Taiwan and the US are just as crooked and shameless as China, why do they support the fight against dictatorship?” he said.
He and four other Chinese dissidents, three of whom arrived four years ago, asked to be allowed to remain in Taiwan or to seek asylum in a third country.
Taiwan has kept delaying granting them asylum on the grounds that the legislature has yet to pass an asylum law.
Taipei also agreed to assist them in finding asylum in a third country, but the effort has been futile because most countries recognize China and do not want to offend Beijing.
The five men’s patience is running out because without an ID card, they cannot find work or take advantage of government benefits.
On Thursday, Cai and two other Chinese dissidents Wu Yalin (吳亞林), 49, and Chen Rongli (陳榮利), 39, went to the AIT office in Taipei to apply for asylum from Washington.
Cai and Wu on Wednesday climbed over the wall into the AIT compound while Chen waited outside. Cai and Wu were later apprehended for trespassing by AIT security staff and taken to an adjoining police station for questioning.
On Thursday, the AIT’s press officer Lawrence Walker said the case should be settled by Taiwan.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
RSS