Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday voiced support for the Ministry of the Interior’s (MOI) decision to ban Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer from entering the nation for the next three years.
Wu said he did not agree with local media’s description that the decision was a move to “shut out” Kadeer.
“Every nation enjoys the power to control the security of its borders based on national security and mutual trust between different nations,” Wu said.
Wu made the remark after Guts United Taiwan (GUT), which is hosting screenings of a documentary about Kadeer today and tomorrow, learned recently that the Taiwanese government had placed the exiled World Uyghur Congress leader on a three-year blacklist after she was denied entry to Taipei last year.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government came under fire when Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) announced in September that Taiwan would not allow Kadeer to enter the country in a bid to protect the nation’s interests and national security.
Jiang at that time said the decision was made because “the World Uyghur Congress is closely related to one or two terrorist groups, although the group itself is not a terrorist organization.”
Wu yesterday said the ban showed that Taiwan is an independent sovereign nation.
He added that many countries he would like to visit also denied him entry for many different reasons. He did not elaborate.
GUT originally planned to invite Kadeer to Taiwan to attend screenings of The 10 Conditions of Love. The ban forced the GUT to change its plan and instead invite Kadeer’s daughter, Raela Tosh, who arrived in Taipei yesterday.
Tosh was originally scheduled to be accompanied by congress vice president Omer Kanat. However, Kanat found out on Saturday that he would not be able to travel to Taiwan because the Taiwanese office in Washington said that his visa application needs further review.
Kanat holds a Turkish passport and a US green card.
Asked to comment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesman James Chang (章計平) said the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington has its own requirements when reviewing visa applications.
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