Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress, said she would apply for a visa to visit Taiwan in December.
Kadeer made the remarks after meeting with Guts United Taiwan president Freddy Lim (林昶佐) at her Washington office on Wednesday and accepting his invitation to visit Taiwan.
Beijing has accused Kadeer of inciting ethnic violence and of encouraging China’s Uighur population to stage illegal protests, an allegation Kadeer denies.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FORMOSAN ASSOCIATION FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Lim, also the front man of Taiwanese black metal band Chthonic (閃靈樂團), was in the Washington area as part of a national tour when he visited Kadeer.
“I greatly admire her. I have asked her to come to Taiwan as my guest. I am already talking with lawyers in Taiwan to get her a visa,” Lim said.
Lim said he decided to invite Kadeer after reading that the documentary about her, The 10 Conditions of Love, had become the center of “an outrageous” controversy at the Kaohsiung Film Festival.
The Kaohsiung City Government originally planned to screen the documentary at its Kaohsiung Film Festival next month, but later decided to screen it this week to end the controversy after tourism industry figures in the city complained that the festival’s plan to include the film had led to a series of hotel cancelations by Chinese tourists.
Saying the film “distorts the facts and glorifies a separatist,” Beijing had also warned Kaohsiung City against damaging cross-strait relations.
Lim said he wanted the film to be shown at colleges throughout Taiwan if Kadeer is granted a visa and visits in December.
Following her meeting with Lim, Kadeer said: “I would love to visit Taiwan, but I have not even applied for the visa yet. I want to tell Taiwanese about our struggle and about the plight of the Uighur people. I hope they will let me visit so that I can tell this human rights story.”
Lim said there is no reason why Kadeer should not be given a visa.
“She has traveled to Japan and European countries without any problems,” Lim said. “Taiwan is still part of the free world.”
In Taipei, Cabinet Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) yesterday said officials would need to see Kadeer’s visa application before deciding how to handle it. The government has yet to say whether it would welcome her.
Meanwhile, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) official, speaking anonymously, said the invitation was a complicated issue for the government.
The official said it would be hard for the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to reject Kadeer’s application given humanitarian concerns and freedom of speech. Considering a visit by Kadeer “more sensitive” than that of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who visited last month, the official expressed concern that cross-strait relations would be negatively affected if Kadeer visits.
The Democratic Progressive Pary (DPP), on the other hand, said it plans to screen more documentaries on the Tibetan and Uighur issues and to invite the directors and the individuals concern to visit Taiwan “and experience Taiwan’s democracy.”
“Just because a person is on China’s blacklist, it doesn’t mean they have to be on Taiwan’s,” DPP spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said.
The controversy surrounding the screening of The 10 Conditions of Love highlights that China is the real trouble maker, rudely meddling in Taiwan’s domestic affairs and interfering in freedom of speech and artistic creativity, Chao said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP AND STAFF WRITER
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to