Civic groups yesterday held a flag-raising ceremony in Taipei to observe the independence of the former East Turkestan Republic, urging nations to condemn acts of Uighur genocide and to support the human rights and sovereignty of Uighurs in the region.
Members of the Taiwan East Turkestan Association and representatives from the Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project, along with Taiwanese civic groups, assembled in front of the Legislative Yuan and raised the national flag of the former republic while singing its anthem.
Taiwan Parliamentary Human Rights Commission secretary-general Wuer Kaixi yesterday said that the national anthem’s name is translated as the March of Freedom or the March of Independence, adding that the lyrics speak of Uighurs who sacrificed their lives for liberty.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“We hope one day that this anthem will be played across the lands of East Turkestan,” he said.
Taiwan East Turkestan Association president Ho Chao-tung (何朝棟) said the presence of Uighur labor camps and attempts to commit genocide against Uighurs are globally recognized truths.
“Only by obtaining sovereignty can one uphold and safeguard human rights,” Ho said.
Uyghur Human Rights Project outreach specialist Tashken Davlet said the international community is aware of China’s actions against Uighurs and other Turkic minorities in the region.
The independence movement is now one in which Uighurs fight against genocide and destruction of culture, and serve to unite the people and allow them to be proud to identify as Uighurs, Davlet said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
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A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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