China
executes two Uighurs, jails 15 for ‘terrorism’
CREDIBLE REPORTS?: China
should not use the ‘war on terror’ or the lead-up to the Olympics to oppress
ethnic minorities and religious groups, US lawmakers said
DPA AND AFP, BEIJING AND WASHINGTON
Sunday, Jul 13, 2008, Page 1
China has executed two Uighurs and sentenced 15 others to prison in its Central
Asian region of Xinjiang after a court convicted them of terrorism, US-based
Radio Free Asia reported yesterday.
Mukhtar Setiwaldi and Abduweli Imin were executed on Wednesday shortly after a
public sentencing rally organized by the Intermediate People’s Court in the far
western city of Kashgar, the broadcaster quoted local sources as saying.
Three other Uighurs were given death sentences, suspended for two years, and the
remaining 12 were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 years to life, it
said.
All 17 Uighurs were charged with belonging to the East Turkestan Islamic
Movement, which the US and China list as an international terrorist group.
East Turkestan is the name still given to Xinjiang by Uighurs seeking an
independent state.
The 17 Uighurs were arrested in a raid on a suspected terrorist camp in the
Pamir Mountains in Xinjiang’s Aktu County in January last year, when the
government said its forces shot dead 18 others.
The Uighur American Association said yesterday that the sentencing in Kashgar
showed that China was “ratcheting up already intense terror claims to crack down
on Uighurs on an unprecedented scale.”
The Chinese Communist Party has chosen to “exploit the ‘war on terror’ and
Uighurs’ Muslim faith to suppress peaceful Uighur dissent while gaining
international sympathy for their cause,” the group said in a statement.
“In light of the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] documented pattern of the
persecution of the Uighur people in the name of terrorism, extremism and
separatism, its recent terror allegations and alleged terror raids warrant the
intense scrutiny of the international community,” said Rebiya Kadeer, the
group’s president.
Police in Xinjiang on Thursday said they had arrested 82 suspected terrorists in
five groups this year after they “allegedly plotted sabotage against the Beijing
Olympics.”
US lawmakers on Friday “strongly condemned” what they called Beijing’s harsh
pre-Olympic crackdown.
The bipartisan leadership of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in a
statement cited “credible” reports about the convictions and executions on
terrorism charges.
These are “abuses of due process and rule of law,” said caucus co-chairmen
Democrat Jim McGovern and Republican Frank Wolf.
The same day, police in Urumqi reportedly killed five Uighur men who authorities
claimed were part of a 15-member criminal gang allegedly trained for “holy war.”
“The Chinese government should not be permitted to use the ‘war on terror’ or
Olympic security as a front to persecute the Uighurs,” Wolf said.
“These trials appear to be no more than a ploy to oppress religious freedom and
ethnic minority groups,” he said.
He called on Beijing to uphold the commitments made to the international
community when awarded the right to host the Games and improve its human rights
record.
Arms
procurement unchanged: Ma
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Sunday, Jul 13, 2008, Page 1
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday the government’s policy on procuring
weapons from the US remained unchanged, adding that the US should explain to its
Congress Taiwan’s stance in that regard to allow the matter to clear the
congressional floor and proceed forward.
Ma made the remarks after being asked for comment on a story published in the
Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday that claimed White House National
Security Adviser Stephen Hadley had called National Security Council
Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) to inform him of the Bush administration’s
decision to freeze arms sales to Taiwan and request that Taipei avoid any
comments on the matter.
Dismissing the report, Ma said he had often stated the need for Taiwan to
acquire defensive weapons. Saying the legislature had already passed the
budgets, Ma added he hoped the arms procurement “would go as originally
planned.”
Su yesterday also denied he had received a call from the White House. Su issued
the denial through Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦).
Various sources in the US — including the Senate and the US-Taiwan Business
Council — have recently expressed concern about a possible freeze on arms sales.
In a statement released on June 11, US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert
Hammond-Chambers said that the US Department of State was sitting on
congressional notifications related to a number of weapons systems requested by
Taiwan.
In a joint letter sent on June 30 by a group of 14 senators to US President
George W. Bush, the senators said they had made fruitless attempts to clarify
the status of these requests and urged the administration to “expeditiously
execute consideration of these requests.”
Asked about the issue on Friday in Washington, Tan Chih-lung (淡志隆), chief of
Taiwan’s military delegation to the US, said eight congressional notifications
were pending at the Department of State and that whether the arms procurements
could be completed before Bush’s term ends remained uncertain.
Tan said his delegation in Washington had told the US that the budgets for the
eight bills had been approved by the legislature and that it hoped the US would
pass the bills as soon as possible.
Asked about a Washington Post report claiming that Taiwanese national security
officials had asked Washington to temporarily halt arms sales to Taiwan, Tan
said he did not know where this information came from.
Since the legislature has already passed the budget, Taiwan has made a
commitment to the purchases, he said.
NIA rules
on KMT descendants
NOMADS: The offspring of
these soldiers do not enjoy legal status in their respective countries, while
the Taiwanese government also does not consider them to be citizens
By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Jul 13, 2008, Page 2
The descendants of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) troops left behind in
Myanmar and Thailand can apply for an overseas compatriot permit starting next
week, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, students from Thailand and Myanmar who were recruited
by the Overseas Compatriots Affairs Commission (OCAC) and the Ministry of
Education (MOE) between May 20, 1999, and Dec. 26 last year to study in Taiwan
will be allowed to go to the Jhonghe City Hall in Taipei County to apply for a
one-year permit that would enable them to have legal status while in Taiwan, NIA
Spokesman Steve Wu (吳學燕) said.
“We are all extremely happy and moved by the decision. The government has
finally heard our voice. It proves that all these struggles were not in vain,”
said Lee Mei-ping (李美萍), referring to the 400-strong protest in front of the
Legislative Yuan last week.
Lee is one of the thousands of students recruited in the last few years from
Chinese refugee communities in Myanmar and Thailand.
She said they were all told the same story — just come to Taiwan by using
whatever means you can and the government will take care of you.
Following their “Taiwanese dream,” many students and their families went into
debt to obtain counterfeit passports.
“But by the time we got here, we had become criminals,” Lee said.
These students and their families back home are often dubbed as the “orphans of
the international community” because they have not been recognized as citizens
by any government.
Their parents fought for the KMT during the Chinese Civil War more than 60 years
ago, but when Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) retreated to Taiwan, he ordered these forces
to stay behind on the border of Myanmar and Thailand in case the KMT had a
chance to turn the tide.
Chiang and the KMT never honored their promises and the soldiers were forced to
stay in countries where they were not welcome.
Until now, the offspring of these soldiers do not enjoy legal status in their
respective countries and the Taiwanese government also does not view them as
citizens.
Lee said an estimate of 380 students will apply for the permit on Tuesday and
400 more will do so the following day.
The relaxed policy requires all those who entered Taiwan through illegal means
to turn themselves in before they can obtain a temporary permit.
NIA said the permit is only good for one year and it does not allow the holders
to sign up for the national health insurance plan.
The agency, however, vowed to push through an amendment in the next legislative
session to address the welfare of these students.
‘More or
less’ won’t do to gauge Ma’s many vows
By Chiu Hei-yuan 瞿海源
Sunday, Jul 13, 2008, Page 8
‘Even if implementation goes no further than to preparatory paperwork, it can
still be said to have been “delivered on.” “More or less” ... is an expression
devoid of meaning.’
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) may have returned to power, with the boon of
holding a legislative majority, but after just more than a month, policy
implementation has been problematic and personnel appointments have been
anything but smooth. As a result, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rating
has dropped sharply.
The main reason for this — apart from rising oil and electricity prices and the
stock market going into a freefall rather than rising above 10,000 points — is
that the government has not been able to present any substantial policy
achievements. In addition, Ma still has not begun to deliver on the promises he
made during his election campaign.
A few days ago, the Democratic Progressive Party’s last presidential candidate,
Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), criticized Ma for not delivering on his promises and said
this made it feel as if he had never really competed against Ma.
Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) Minister Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said
in public a few days ago that the possibility that Ma would be able to deliver
on his election promises was very high — 98 percent.
The RDEC says it has submitted Ma’s 414 election promises to the respective
ministries for feasibility studies. Jiang said the ministries have reacted
positively to about 90 percent of the promises and that the RDEC thinks these
will be “more or less” delivered on, while the responses to the remaining 10
percent are unclear and show some discrepancies with the original promises.
Jiang also said the RDEC was discussing these discrepancies with the respective
ministries.
The question that should be asked is why there is such a huge discrepancy
between the RDEC’s confidence in Ma’s delivering on his promises on the one
hand, and the government’s actual achievements and the general public’s
impression on the other.
The RDEC’s quantification of the likelihood that Ma’s election promises will be
implemented, based on the ministries’ “concrete” responses to Ma’s “concrete”
promises, is a very insubstantial approach.
Many election promises are indeed very concrete, precisely because they are
election promises. The responses from the ministries, however, are only
preliminary. They may not have had the time to draw up concrete implementation
plans, so the question of how many promises will actually be implemented remains
unanswered.
“More or less” is very imprecise wording and may even be irresponsible. Even if
implementation goes no further than to preparatory paperwork, it can still be
said to have been “delivered on.”
“More or less” delivering on an election promise just isn’t good enough and
means nothing.
Chiu Hei-yuan is a professor at Leiden
University.