Amnesty International Taiwan on Friday called on Taiwanese to help check Myanmar’s junta six months after a coup plunged the country into chaos.
ASEAN in April reached a five point “consensus” that calls for the cessation of hostilities in Myanmar, but has done little to stop the violence in the country, Amnesty International Taiwan secretary-general Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) told a virtual news conference.
The news conference was part of an effort by the group to pressure East Asian countries into taking decisive steps toward condemning the Burmese junta.
A surge in COVID-19 cases in Myanmar this month has compounded the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country, Chiu added.
As of Friday, Myanmar had reported 258,870 COVID-19 cases and 6,459 deaths, according to the WHO.
Although not an ASEAN member, Taiwan is one of the few countries in East Asia where news conferences and protests can be held without fear of state interference, she said.
The public should lend Taiwan’s voice to Burmese residents in the nation in issuing calls for peace and for the junta to respect basic human rights, she added.
Taiwan’s business community should also refrain from engaging in transactions that could enable the Burmese junta to obtain arms in contravention of a non-binding UN resolution, she said.
Burmese troops are rounding up doctors in the country even as the country reports more than 5,000 cases daily, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said, adding that the junta has been seizing medical supplies earmarked for civilians.
The junta shoots unarmed people without provocation and then reports them as having died of COVID-19, he said.
“The legislature has expressed its support for the people of Myanmar in an April resolution and we urge the Burmese military to refrain from using force against civilians,” he said.
Lawmakers, financial regulators and foreign affairs officials are monitoring the public and private sectors to prevent Taiwanese capital from being utilized to finance the junta, he said.
Amnesty International Thailand secretary-general Piyanut Kotsan said the Thai government has repeatedly obstructed humanitarian efforts to aid refugees while surreptitiously furnishing the Burmese junta with supplies.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching