There would be a “chilling effect” on freedom of expression caused by China’s detention of Taiwan-based publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀), people from the publishing, academia and arts sectors said yesterday.
Former minister of culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and former National Palace Museum director Wu Mi-cha (吳密察) were among about 350 people who signed a statement calling on Beijing to “ensure the rights [of Li] according to Chinese law.”
Li, the editor-in-chief of Gusa Press, is being investigated by Chinese state security officials for “suspected activities endangering national security,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said on April 26.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The signatories said that Li’s detention and the subsequent investigation would have a “chilling effect” on Taiwan’s publishing sector and “damage normal cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.”
They urged Beijing to announce the results of the investigation into Li “as soon as possible.”
Following Li’s detention, TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said that his legal rights would be protected in accordance with the law.
However, the TAO has so far not provided further details about the state of Li’s health and his whereabouts.
Li was reportedly arrested by police in Shanghai in late March, shortly after he arrived in China to visit his family and deal with residency-related issues.
At a news conference in Taipei yesterday, Wang Chia-hsuan (王家軒), a former editor at Gusa Press, said that the detention of Li on national security grounds had caused many working in the publishing and cultural sectors in Taiwan to begin warning each other against traveling to China.
Chang Cheng (張正), the founder of New Taipei City-based Brilliant Time Bookstore, said that while they fully respected the wishes of Li’s family to keep the incident low-key, there was a need for people to voice their concern.
“We think the cultural, media and academic circles can no longer feign ignorance” over Li’s circumstances, Chang said.
Others who also signed the statement included Rex How (郝明義), founder and chairman of Locus Publishing Co; Kuo Chung-hsing (郭重興), founder of the Book Republic Publishing Group; Chien Chi-chong (簡志忠), founder of the Eurasian Publishing Group; and Jan Hung-tze (詹宏志), founder and publisher of Business Next Media Corp.
They were joined by award-winning writers Li Ang (李昂), Ping Lu (平路) and Wu Ming-yi (吳明益), as well as filmmakers Wang Shau-di (王小棣) and Ko I-chen (柯一正).
In an article read aloud by Wang Chia-hsuan, Jan, who is also chairman of online shopping platform PChome, said it would be “violent, ridiculous and out of date” for the Chinese government to convince itself that books published by Li Yanhe’s publishing house in Taiwan would endanger the national security of China.
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition