China needs to improve its human rights, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday, adding that global anti-China sentiment would last for the next 15 years.
Ko was responding to reporters’ questions about a recent Xinjiang cotton controversy.
Swedish fashion retailer H&M faced a backlash in China when social media users circulated a statement it made last year announcing that it would no longer source cotton from Xinjiang due to reports that Uighurs were being used as forced labor there.
Photo: Cheng Ming-hsiang, Taipei Times
Several global retail giants, including Adidas, Nike, Puma and Uniqlo, also face boycotts in China over the issue.
Many Chinese artists, as well as Taiwanese artists who were brand ambassadors, have terminated their contracts with the companies as a show of support for China.
“The trade war between the US and China will certainly continue, but China still has to improve its human rights” record, Ko said.
“Anti-China sentiment will still be a global trend for the next 15 years,” he added.
“I don’t know what China is trying to do,” but Taiwanese are not happy with whatever China is doing to the nation, including its unilateral decision to ban imports of pineapples from Taiwan, frequently having Chinese aircraft enter Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and not allowing Taiwan to enter the WHO, Ko said.
Separately, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), who was pictured wearing a pair of avant-garde Nike x Sacai VaporWaffle sneakers in an online post last month, was asked whether he would continue wearing Nike shoes.
He responded that he did not feel the need to stop.
“Human rights is a universal value, so many countries are very concerned about the forced labor of Uighurs and other Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region and their human rights. Chinese authorities should explain the situation and clarify their concerns, rather than stir up nationalism as its response to global society,” he said.
On Saturday, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said on Facebook that “freedom, democracy, human rights and prosperity are the principles and values that the KMT holds in its view on cross-strait and international controversies.”
“Whether it be the Han people, Uighurs or other ethnic minorities, labor rights and religious rights should be guaranteed and respected,” he said.
People in Taiwan have very limited knowledge about what is happening in Xinjiang, so Chinese authorities and the parties concerned should make information transparent, enabling more people to understand the working and living conditions of cotton farmers in Xinjiang, which would help resolve the debate, he said.
Stirring up nationalist rhetoric or reprimanding or boycotting others is not helpful, nor can it help improve the human rights, and living and labor conditions of Uighurs, he said.
Additional reporting by Lin Liang-sheng
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
SHIFTING FIRE: While the tempo of purely military exercises around Taiwan has gone down somewhat, Beijing is working to isolate Lai diplomatically from support abroad Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is shifting tactics in his campaign to pressure Taiwan, ramping up diplomatic isolation of the nation while dialing down provocative displays of military aggression. Taiwan recorded a daily average of five Chinese military aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait’s buffer line with China through May this year — half the number logged in the same period last year. In March, Beijing did not send a single fighter jet near Taiwan for seven days, the longest absence on record outside of typhoon season. In comparison, China sent 153 planes near Taiwan during one day at its peak in
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
RSS