Exiled Chinese democracy advocate Wang Dan (王丹) yesterday urged a man who has accused him of sexual harassment to file a lawsuit to reveal the truth.
Wang, who now resides in the US, made the remark on Facebook after a Taiwanese man surnamed Lee (李) told a news conference in Taipei that Wang sexually harassed him.
Accompanied by independent Taipei City Councilor Lin Liang-chun (林亮君), Lee demanded that Wang issue an apology by tomorrow or he would file a lawsuit against him.
Photo: CNA
Lee, who made the accusation on Facebook on Friday, said he had kept the incident a secret for many years, but decided to come forward with it after seeing many political workers in Taiwan were also sexually harassed at work.
Lee said he met Wang in early 2014 and that Wang invited him to visit him in New York in June that year.
Lee said he was 19 at the time and gladly accepted the invitation, as Wang was a famous public figure.
However, during his stay at a New York hotel, Wang forcefully kissed him and tried to rape him, Lee said.
Lee said Wang started to take off his pants and tried to have sex with him, but he pushed him away and asked him to stop.
Wang stopped after that, Lee said.
However, he felt scared over the following week as Wang harassed him with sexually charged comments, he said.
“Today is the fourth of June, and every year Wang speaks out for people pursuing human rights, with a halo of freedom and democracy,” Lee said.
Wang was one of the leaders of the student demonstrations at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
“However, facing Wang, I feel like the ‘Tank Man’ who could be run over [by Wang] any time, because he is so full of authority,” Lee said, alluding to the famous “Tank Man” photograph showing a lone man standing in front of a line of tanks sent to quash protests in Tiananmen Square.
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Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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