Human rights groups yesterday called on prospective presidential candidates and political heavyweights to attend an event next week to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
“We would like to use the commemorative event to examine whether Taiwan’s political parties and politicians have embraced the founding spirit of the Republic of China,” New School for Democracy member Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元) said.
While the nation’s two major parties often do not see eye to eye on cross-strait policy, economic and trade matters, they should not be divided on an issue like the Tiananmen Square Massacre, which has to do with universal values and the founding spirit of the nation, Tseng said.
With China employing its so-called sharp power to close in on Taiwan, using blandishments and threats, Taiwanese prospective leaders should endeavor to safeguard the nation’s democracy and use its experience of democratization to help facilitate a similar process in China, he said.
The organizers of the Tiananmen Square Massacre 30th anniversary event have sent invitations to all prospective presidential candidates and other political heavyweights, he added.
“We are still awaiting responses,” Tseng said.
“We have also invited them to sign a statement denouncing the military crackdown by the People’s Republic of China on the 1989 student movement in Beijing; demanding the truth about the Tiananmen Square Massacre; compensation for the victims’ families; and punishment of the responsible parties; while pledging to promote concrete action to promote democratic reform in the China,” he added.
The event is on Tuesday 7pm to 9pm in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei.
Short speeches will be given by several individuals who witnessed the Tiananmen Square Massacre, including Chinese academic Wu Renhua (吳仁華), and also by participants in the 2014 “Umbrella movement” in Hong Kong, such as former Causeway Bay Books manager Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), the organizers said.
Taiwan Association for Human Rights deputy secretary-general Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔), one of the organizers of the event, said China’s repression of human rights requires the attention of governments and people all around the world.
“Taiwan is currently facing threats from authoritarian China,” Shih said. “The only chance Taiwan has of withstanding those threats is if the government adamantly adheres to the values of freedom, democracy and human rights.”
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