Cyclists flying Tibetan flags yesterday made a tour of Taipei as part of efforts to raise awareness ahead of the annual March for a Free Tibet next month.
More than 20 Tibetans and Taiwanese gathered outside National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall’s Liberty Square, shouting for a “Free Tibet” and the return of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to Tibet.
The group then set off on a route which took them by the Legislative Yuan building, the offices of the Cross-Strait Economic and Cultural Interchange Association and Taipei 101, where they planned to hand out tracts and deliver speeches to Chinese tourists.
Photo: Chen Ping-hung, Taipei Times
“We hope Chinese can come to understand the true situation in Tibet,” said Cycling for a Free Tibet founder Tashi Tsering (札西慈仁), an Indian-born advocate for Tibetan rights. “Because there is no way to protest like this in China, we want to represent Tibetans with our cycling.”
Since the first cycle around Taipei in 2011, the two-wheeled protesters have advocated Tibetan rights, with the turnout more than doubling this year.
“Your wheels turn continually while cycling and this symbolizes our resolve to carry on the movement,” human rights advocate Lin Hsin-yi (林欣怡) said.
A Wednesday was chosen as the day of the Taipei protest because the Tibetan self-reliance movement is known as “Lhakar” (“White Wednesday”).
Tibetans around the world offer sacrifices and wear traditional dress on Wednesday every week to commemorate the “soul day” of the Dalai Lama.
The protesters plan to continue weekly Wednesday cycling runs until Tibetan Uprising Day on March 10.
“In the past, the world’s high esteem for the Dalai Lama has helped Tibet’s plight gain substantial attention, but there is now a danger that the cause will be silenced by China’s rise,” Covenants Watch chief executive officer Huang Yi-bee (黃怡碧) said. ”At this difficult time, it is important that we stand up and say no to worldwide backtracking on democracy and human rights.”
She called for Taipei to show official concern for Tibetan human rights and to assist Tibetans who wish to study or work in Taiwan.
Advocates plan to hold a candlelight vigil on March 10, with the annual March for a Free Tibet scheduled for Sunday, March 5.
Two people were killed and another nine injured yesterday after being stung by hornets while hiking in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳), with officials warning against wearing perfume or straying from trails during the autumn to avoid the potentially deadly creatures. Seven of the hikers only sustained minor injuries after being stung along the Bafenliao Hiking Trail (八分寮) and made their way down the mountain with a guide, the New Taipei City Fire Department said. Four of them — all male — sustained more serious injuries and were assisted when leaving the mountain, the department said. Two of them, a man surnamed
Recent movements by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been “highly unusual,” but the military maintains a grasp of the situation, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said on Friday, after the military for the first time said it was monitoring troop movements in China’s Dacheng Bay (大埕灣). The minister gave the remarks to reporters before appearing at the legislature on the first day of its new session. The Ministry of National Defense on Thursday evening released an air force surveillance photograph of a PLA Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine aircraft, and said it was monitoring the PLA Rocket Force and ground
China’s Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong has asked foreign consulates in Hong Kong to submit details of their local staff, which is more proof that the “one country, two systems” model no longer exists, a Taiwanese academic said. The office sent letters dated Monday last week to consulates in the territory, giving them one month to submit the information it requires. The move followed Beijing’s attempt to obtain floor plans for all properties used by foreign missions in Hong Kong last year, which raised concerns among diplomats that the information could be used for
‘ABNORMITY’: News of the military exercises on the coast of the Chinese province facing Taiwan were made public by the Ministry of National Defense on Thursday Taiwan’s military yesterday said it has detected the Chinese military initiating a round of exercises at a bay area in coastal Fujian Province, which faces Taiwan, since early yesterday morning and it has been closely monitoring the drills. The exercises being conducted at Fujian’s Dacheng Bay featured an undisclosed number of People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes, warships and ground troops, the Ministry of National Defense said in a press statement. The ministry did not disclose what kind of military exercises are being conducted there and for how long they would be happening, but it did say that it has been closely watching
RSS