Beijing would continue to make arrangements for family members of Taiwanese democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) to visit him in jail, a Chinese government spokesman said yesterday.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) made the pledge after Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), the wife of Lee Ming-che, told a news conference on Saturday last week that Chinese authorities have twice denied her request to visit him.
“As far as we know, Lee was transferred back to Chishan Prison in Hunan Province on Oct. 28,” Ma said. “Regarding family visitation issues, the prison has explained to his family, in an appropriate way, why their request was denied this time.”
However, Lee Ching-yu said that Chinese authorities have given no explanation why her husband was returned to the Hunan prison two weeks after being moved to a prison in Hebei Province.
Ma said that prison authorities had been handling visitation rights for Lee Ming-che’s family members in accordance with the law since he began serving his prison term, adding that his family members had visited him several times and visits would continue to be arranged.
Lee Ming-che has been detained in China since March last year, when he entered Guangdong Province from Macau.
He was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of “subversion of state power” in November last year, because of comments he made and information he circulated on social media about democracy, freedom of expression and human rights in China.
Lee had been serving his sentence at Chishan Prison since Dec. 28 last year, but a Taiwanese business association in Hunan on Oct. 19 said that it was notified by the Chinese government that Lee had been transferred to Yancheng Prison in Hebei.
Lee’s family members are allowed to visit him once a month, according to a visitation notice they received from Chishan Prison in January.
His wife visited him in March, May, June, July and September, but her visitation requests have been denied twice since last month.
Lee Ching-yu said temperatures in Hebei can fall to 2°C, compared with 12°C in Hunan, so the abrupt transfer raised concerns about her husband’s health, particularly after her requests were denied.
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
RSS