Thousands rally in Hong Kong ahead of June 4

AFP, HONG KONG
Monday, Jun 01, 2009, Page 1
　

Thousands of protesters marched through Hong Kong yesterday to commemorate the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing 20 years ago, including one of the leaders from Tiananmen Square.

Organizers said around 5,000 people rallied through the streets of the city to mark the anniversary of the military crackdown, which left hundreds, possibly thousands dead following weeks of protests in the capital.

Among the marchers was Xiong Yan (熊炎), a leading student activist during the 1989 demonstrations who now lives in exile in the US.

He was surprisingly allowed into Hong Kong on Saturday.

Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人), a pro-democracy legislator in Hong Kong and one of the organizers of the annual march, said it was crucial that the city continued to mark the events of 20 years ago.

“We are the only place on Chinese soil that can commemorate June 4,” he said.

“Hong Kong has become the conscience of China to remember ... the crime of the Tiananmen Square massacre and push the regime [in Beijing] to admit their mistakes.”

The attendance at the march was sharply up on last year’s figures.

An annual candlelit vigil on Thursday is expected to attract tens of thousands.

Xiong, who was put on a list of the authorities’ 21 “most-wanted” student protesters after the occupation of Tiananmen was broken up, spent two years in jail before being smuggled to the US via Hong Kong.

His entry was unexpected because of China’s sensitive attitude to any criticism of the crackdown.

Other 1989 campaigners have been refused entry to Hong Kong in the past, although it has a separate legal and immigration system from the mainland, including the right to protest.

“I was very surprised as I have tried many, many times to come,” said Xiong, who arrived on Saturday night, the first time he had set foot on Chinese soil in 17 years.

“I hope in the future I can not only go to Hong Kong, but also to Beijing,” he added.

The marchers gathered in Victoria Park, waving banners with slogans such as “Pass the torch on, relay the message of democracy to those who come after us” and “Speak the truth, never forget.”

The rally included a small group of Chinese students from the mainland, who wore T-shirts citing the late communist leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東): “Whoever suppresses student movements is going to have a bad ending.”

“I am very excited to see so many people, as this is forbidden on the mainland,” said one of the students, 20, who did not want to be named.

Meanwhile, a Danish sculptor who flew to Hong Kong to protest the bloody crackdown was refused entry.

Jens Galschiot, whose sculpture commemorating those who died in the 1989 military crackdown, Pillar of Shame, is displayed at Hong Kong University, was stopped by officials on Saturday and sent back to Zurich, an immigration spokesman confirmed.

Legislator Albert Ho (何俊仁), chairman of the Democratic Party and a lawyer, said the Dane was detained for five hours before being put on a flight to Zurich late on Saturday.

Ho said he was looking at possible legal action over the decision.

Galschiot was also refused entry into Hong Kong ahead of the Beijing Olympics last year.

He was also planning to repair his sculpture and donate two more.

Other members of his family and a filmmaker accompanying them were allowed to pass through immigration.

Medical students demand overseas graduate exams
　

HEALTH MATTERS: The chairman of a medical student organization said it was impossible to have confidence in the quality of medical training in every country
　

By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jun 01, 2009, Page 2
　

About 2,000 medical students took to the streets yesterday, urging the Legislative Yuan to amend the Physician’s Act (醫師法) by the end of the spring legislative session to require medical graduates who obtained their qualifications abroad to take exams in Taiwan.

Protesters gathered at Liberty Square in front of National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, holding up placards that read “Stalling the bill means flunking our health” and “Medical students are not afraid of competition but afraid that tragedies may happen in hospital.”

The protesters from the College of Medicine at Chang Gung University, Taipei Medical University, China Medical University, National Taiwan University and other schools raised their hands, reciting the doctor’s oath as they urged lawmakers to push through the proposed amendment.

“I shall practice medicine with my conscience and dignity. Patients’ health should be my first priority,” they chanted.

The chairman of the Federation of Medical Students in Taiwan Chien Yu-chuan (簡佑全) urged the government to take the proposed amendment seriously and require all medical students graduating from schools overseas to pass qualification examinations in Taiwan.

“The government should also require that all overseas graduates complete an internship at hospitals in Taiwan in a bid to safeguard the health of our people,” Chien said.

The demonstration came in the wake of a recent controversy involving Taiwanese students attending medical schools in Poland when medical students launched an online campaign questioning the quality of medical education there.

In response, Minister of Health Yeh Chin-chuan (葉金川) expressed his support for the introduction of qualification examinations and internships in Taiwan for graduates who attend medical school abroad.

However, the move drew criticism from Taiwanese medical students in Poland and their parents, who feared the impact of such a proposed amendment on their careers in Taiwan, while authorities of the Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poland traveled to Taiwan to defend the school’s curriculum and the competence of its graduates.

Yeh, along with officials from the Ministry of Education, stood by their proposed amendment during a public hearing on May 6.

“As Taiwanese medical students, we are afraid that the health of the public will be compromised as a result of the poor quality of medical education [in Eastern Europe],” Chien told reporters yesterday.

“We all know that the quality of medical education abroad is uneven and there is also a language barrier. It is impossible for us to have confidence in the quality of medical training and education in every country,” Chien said.

Lin Chin-yi (林親怡), a representative from the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Chang Gung University, stressed the importance for overseas medical graduates to completing internships in Taiwan, even though some might have already completed an internship abroad.

She said the graduates would learn from Taiwanese patients during their internship at hospitals, which would help them understand and treat illnesses that were more prominent among people in Taiwan.

A press release by the Taiwan Medical Association said the organization had resolved to support the proposed qualification examinations and internship.

DPP announces dates for ECFA referendum drive
　

By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jun 01, 2009, Page 3

“Ma should stop lying to the public and saying the pact would not touch on political issues.”— Cheng Wen-tsang, Democratic Progressive Party spokesman

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday it plans to collect 80,000 signatures by the end of next month to reach the first benchmark needed for a proposed referendum on a planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.

It would then start a signature petition to obtain 1 million signatures in August to reach the second application stage, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.

The Referendum Act (公投法) stipulates that the signatures of 0.5 percent of eligible voters — approximately 80,000 — must be collected to apply to hold a referendum. In the second stage, 5 percent of eligible voters — approximately 800,000 — must sign the petition before the Referendum Review Committee can screen the proposed referendum.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) reiterated his opposition to a referendum on the ECFA during a press conference in Belize on Thursday.

The ECFA would lead to a “one China market” and closer economic exchanges with China, which would have a significant impact on Taiwan, Cheng said.

“The proposed agreement would involve issues such as sovereignty concerns, and Ma should stop lying to the public and saying the pact would not touch on political issues,” Cheng said.

One million signatures would be a big challenge for the DPP, but the party was willing to make the effort, Cheng said.

Since Ma has said the government hopes to sign the ECFA within a year, the DPP will have to speed up its efforts, Cheng said.

The DPP does not want the referendum held with the year-end mayoral and commissioner elections, he said, but it has not decided if it should be held alongside the mayoral elections scheduled for next year.

Taiwan urged to export democracy to China
　

REMEMBERING TIANANMEN: A conference in Taipei yesterday heard calls for Taiwan’s government to initiate discussions on human rights issues during cross-strait talks
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Monday, Jun 01, 2009, Page 3

It’s about time for Taiwan to become an “exporter of democracy,” speakers at a conference on the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre said in Taipei yesterday, urging the government to discuss human rights issues during cross-strait negotiations.

“China has become an ‘exporter of authoritarianism — not because of any ideological reasons, but for its own national interests,” said Yiong Cong-ziin (楊長鎮), director of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of Social Movement.

“China has become strikingly similar to what it once criticized as ‘American imperialists,’” Yiong said.

He said that because of its need for oil and other raw materials, as well as for the access to the Indian Ocean, “China is providing support and weapons to authoritarian rulers in Myanmar, Sudan and Zimbabwe.”

CRACKDOWNS

“As the Chinese government cracks down on Tibetan demonstrators in Lhasa, arrests Chinese human rights activists and even allows live organ harvest of Falun Gong practitioners, we cannot pretend that all these do not happen and we only focus on economic exchanges,” Yiong said.

“If we do, we would become a member of China’s ‘axis of evil,’” he said.

Taiwan should seek to become an “exporter of democracy” and bring up human rights issues — such as urging Beijing to give justice to victims of the Tiananmen Massacre — during cross-strait talks, he told the conference.

“Taiwan received much help from the international community — especially from international human rights groups—during our struggle for democracy,” former DDP legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) said.

Several Chinese democracy activists also attended the conference, which was organized by a Chinese democracy movement support group.

JUSTICE DELAYED

“We’re talking about commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre here, but it’s not just about remembering a historic event, because Tiananmen Square is not yet history,” Chinese democracy activist Xue Wei (薛偉) said.

“Justice is yet to be rendered even judged by the lowest standards, many Tiananmen Square demonstrators are still in jail or in exile,” Xue said.

“Remembering Tiananmen Square itself is a resistance to the Chinese Communist Party regime,” he said.

All the speakers expressed their concerns that less people seem to care about democracy in China today as the country evolves into a strong economic power.

“I’ve heard some people attributing China’s economic development to the iron-handed crackdown of demonstrators in Tiananmen Square,” former New Party legislator Yao Li-ming (姚立明) said. “That’s highly inappropriate.”

Yao said he was sorry that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) seems to have become more ambivalent about the the massacre since he became president.

“I understand that he may have other considerations as a president who represents the entire Republic of China,” Yao said.

“But I do expect him to make a gesture on June 4,” Yao said.

DPP needs plan to deal with China
　

By Paul Lin 林保華
Monday, Jun 01, 2009, Page 8

The issue of whether Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) should have visited China has caused debate within the pan-green camp. China’s existence is a fact that Taiwan cannot ignore. It is inevitable that Taiwan has to deal with China and that refusing to do so is not an option. The key issue is how Taiwan should go about it.

When the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was in power, they did not refuse to deal with China. The problem was that China refused to deal with the DPP. The pan-green camp should therefore establish a model for how to deal with China aimed at highlighting the differences between its approach and the approach of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

So how should members of the pan-green camp deal with China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?

First of all, they should clarify Taiwan’s status, a precondition for establishing equality. Taiwan has never denied the existence of the People’s Republic of China, but China refuses to recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty, and Ma has never protested against this. The pan-green camp must establish a status that does not allow the denigration of Taiwan.

They should also choose which issues to discuss with China. Taiwan has its own advantages. On a political level, these advantages are freedom, democracy and human rights, and on an economic level, they lie in the high-tech field. The pan-green camp needs to focus on Taiwan’s strong points in dealing with China. For example, they must refuse the recent practice of Taiwanese politicians going to China to “worship their ancestors” because this is part of China’s united front strategy and a nationalist ruse to present China as Taiwan’s ancestor.

They should further choose the timing of their dealings with China carefully because timing can either help or hurt negotiations. Chen filed her application to visit before the May 17 demonstrations. This information was leaked in an attempt to weaken the demonstration, but luckily, it was not enough to affect the protest.

In addition, they must also strictly adhere to the principle of avoiding conflicts of interest, and anyone with vested interests in China should not be sent there.

During the talks, they should act with self-respect but avoid being arrogant, and there is no need to make statements designed to upset the CCP. They should adopt an equanimous attitude and make clear their commitment to Taiwan’s sovereignty, freedom and human rights at appropriate times.

Furthermore, they should also analyze as many outcomes as possible. Any willingness on behalf of the CCP to communicate with the pan-green camp is aimed at taking over Taiwan, so the pan-greens must consider all possible outcomes that negotiations could have and prepare as many responses as possible.

Finally, they should follow up on important issues. For example, parts of Chen’s speeches were cut from broadcasts in China, so other pan-green members visiting China should bring this up. This would also demonstrate the importance of press freedom and pan-green unity.

Dealing with China is battle in itself and although sometimes a certain amount of compromise is necessary, we cannot always expect results, as that will require sacrificing too many principles. If negotiations break down, the reasons for failure should be explained so the Taiwanese public and the international community can see the unreasonable nature of the CCP.

Paul Lin is a political commentator.