With tomorrow marking the 66th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising of 1959, a “free Tibet” march is to be held in Taipei today, and a candlelit vigil at Liberty Square tomorrow night.
The march is to begin at 1pm outside Exit 2 of Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT Station in Taipei, while the vigil would take place at 7pm, the event sponsors said.
Sponsors include the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which represents the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration in Taiwan, and other civil groups.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Taiwanese should support Taiwan and say “no” to Chinese autocracy, Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa, the foundation’s chairman and representative of the Tibet Office in Taiwan, told a news conference in Taipei on Thursday.
Following the death of the Dalai Lama’s second-oldest brother, Gyalo Thondup, on Feb. 8, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs two days later announced that it would be open to negotiating with the Dalai Lama if he recognized that Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of China, whose sole legal government is that of the People’s Republic China, Kelsang Gyaltsen Bawa said.
In 1951, the Chinese government used military force to compel Tibet to sign the Seventeen-Point Agreement, or the “Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet,” agreeing that Tibet was a part of China, he said.
However, in the following nine years, the agreement was broken and Tibet was violently suppressed and occupied, resulting in the death of more than 1.2 million Tibetans, the eradication of Tibetan culture, the destruction of more than 6,000 temples and the self-immolation of at least 157 Tibetans in protest of Chinese rule, he said.
In an attempt to ethnically cleanse Tibet, China confines Tibetan children and adults in “cultural assimilation schools that resemble concentration camps,” he said.
Even Tibetans living in free societies are subject to transnational repression and persecution, he added.
China imposed “one country, two systems” on Hong Kong in 1997, but in fewer than 22 years it crushed the territory’s freedoms, forcing many Hong Kongers into exile and displacement across the world, he said.
As the Chinese Communist Party also says it wishes to unify China with Taiwan, Taipei needs to heed the cautionary tales of Tibet and Hong Kong, he added.
The parade was first held in Taiwan 22 years ago, growing from just seven attendees in 2003 to a large gathering, Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan secretary Tashi Tsering said.
Tashi Tsering, a displaced Tibetan and the last surviving member of his family, expressed his hope of avoiding a second exile, urging Taiwanese to stand resolute and remain strong in the face of China’s threats.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS