The wife of democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) on Thursday said she was yet to be told why her husband was transferred back to a prison in China’s Hunan Province after being moved to Hebei last month.
Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜) said that the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Wednesday told her that her husband had been returned to Chishan Prison in Hunan, although no explanation was given.
Lee Ming-che has been detained in China since March last year and was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of “subversion of state power” in November last year.
He was at Chishan Prison initially, but on Oct. 19, a Taiwanese business association in Hunan said it was notified by the Chinese government that he had been transferred to Yancheng Prison in Hebei, which was founded in 2002 and is one of two prisons that are run directly by the Chinese government.
The Chinese authorities did not provide any further explanation, the association said.
MAC Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said that the council on Wednesday was informed by the Straits Exchange Foundation and the business association of Lee Ming-che’s second prison transfer.
Chiu said it had asked authorities in Beijing to explain why Lee Ming-che had been moved twice in such a short period of time, while expressing the government’s displeasure over his treatment.
He also urged Beijing to protect Lee Ming-che’s basic human rights and called on authorities there to allow family members to visit him in prison as soon as possible.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
LUCKY DATE: The man picked the 10th ‘Super Red Envelope’ in a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10 A man who recently broke up with his girlfriend won a NT$1 million (US$32,929) prize in the “NT$20 million Super Red Envelope” lottery after picking a card based on the date of their breakup, Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The man, in his 20s, bought the 10th ticket at a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10, the store owner told the lottery company. The “Super Red Envelope” lottery was a limited offering by the company during the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended yesterday. The cards, which cost NT$2,000 each, came with
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the