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Invitation to
Sichuan¡¦s governor criticized by activists
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter
Taiwan Friends of Tibet (TFOT) yesterday criticized former Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (§d§B¶¯) for inviting Sichuan Province Governor
Jiang Jufeng (½±¥¨®p) to Taiwan, saying that Jiang was responsible for the
repression and killing of Tibetan protesters during demonstrations in the
province.
¡§We strongly condemn Wu¡¦s invitation to Sichuan Province [Chinese Communist
Party] Deputy General Secretary Jiang Jufeng ¡X who is also the governor of the
province ¡X as monks [and civilian protesters] at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba
[Chinese: Aba ªüÅò] in Sichuan Province are being repressed by the military and
police,¡¨ the organization said in a statement.
Wu extended the invitation at the end of a cross-strait business symposium in
Chengdu, Sichuan Province, on Monday.
The invitation came about a week after several Tibet support groups in Taiwan ¡X
including the TFOT, the Regional Tibetan Youth Congress Taiwan, the Regional
Tibetan Women¡¦s Association Taiwan and Students for a Free Tibet Taiwan ¡X
visited the Mainland Affairs Council to urge it to pay more attention to the
situation in Sichuan, a request that the council agreed to right away.
¡§Top officials from Sichuan Province, according to a legislative resolution
adopted in December, should be put on the list of ¡¥unwelcome¡¦ guests and be
banned from entering Taiwan,¡¨ the TFOT statement said. ¡§The Mainland Affairs
Council should follow up on the invitation and block Jiang¡¦s application to
visit Taiwan.¡¨
The legislature in December passed a resolution urging the government to ban the
entry of human rights violators.
More than 2,500 monks at the Kirti Monastery have been barred from leaving the
monastery since March following peaceful demonstrations by both monks and the
public to remember the March 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. Chinese
authorities launched a violent crackdown on the demonstrations, killing many,
while arresting more than 300 demonstrators.
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