Thousands of Tibet supporters gather at concert
　

MESSAGE: The highlight of the concert was a video recording of Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama addressing the crowd and invoking a blessing for Taiwanese

By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER, WITH CNA
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009, Page 1
　

“This government’s unsupportive attitude toward Tibet and the Uighurs does not at all represent the people of Taiwan.”— Su Tseng-chang, former premier

Thousands of Tibet supporters gathered in Taipei yesterday for a marathon concert organized by civic groups as part of a series of activities to commemorate the 1959 uprising in Tibet. Chanting “Free Tibet” and “Long live the Dalai Lama,” the crowd waved banners and Tibetan flags.

In unison, the crowd signed the letter “T” for Tibet with their arms after watching a short video clip of a speech by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who invoked a blessing on the performers and the future of Taiwan.

Hosted by Guts United, Taiwan, the Taiwan Indie Music Association and Taiwan Friends of Tibet, the “50th Spring: Free Tibet” concert featured 10 independent bands and singers who entertained the audience from the early afternoon through the late evening. Organizers estimated more than 4,000 people attended the event yesterday.

Retired teacher Chen Hsiao-cheng (陳孝誠), 67, said the concert was important because not enough young people understand the plight of Tibetans and how Taiwan’s apathy toward Tibet could adversely affect their freedom in the long run.

A visitor from the US, Jennifer Donnell, said the public’s power and anger were palpable and that Beijing should listen to what people have to say, not just in Taiwan, but everywhere in the world, about its actions in Tibet.

Amnesty International Taiwan vice chairman Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁) said civic groups have to shoulder the responsibility of safeguarding freedom and human rights at a time when the mainstream media and the government are not doing enough.

“Freedom does not just fall from the sky, but is rather something that we need to fight for and protect, as it might slip away bit by bit if we let down our guard and take it for granted,” Lee said.

People in Taiwan should tell the government to pay more attention to human rights issues in China, Lee said.

Former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) also took part in the event yesterday, saying that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policy toward Tibet was the antithesis of public opinion and that people should voice their support for freedom in Tibet.

“Despite the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] brutal oppression of the Taiwanese people during the White Terror, Taiwan still emerged as a democratic country that values freedom and human rights. This government’s unsupportive attitude toward Tibet and the Uighurs does not at all represent the people of Taiwan,” Su said.

Conforming to China
　

Sunday, Jul 12, 2009, Page 8

It has long been the stance of the large moderate center of Taiwan’s electorate that if and after China progresses from its present communist party-state, to become a multi-party participatory democracy, Taiwan could consider merging with China.

We have watched President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for more than a year as he busily erases boundaries and differences between Taiwan and China’s communist party-state and economy. The obvious thrust of his actions is to change Taiwan to closely conform to China’s authoritarian party-state model. He is not willing to wait, in accordance with the wishes of the Taiwanese electorate, for China to progress. His insistence on changing Taiwan as he does, without hearing any of the voices of Taiwan’s diverse democracy, is the behavior of a dictator — thinly dressed up in specious statements and false promises that purport to minimize his insult to the people.

But the insult is obvious and it is real. The people of Taiwan accept the insult of Ma’s dictatorship day by day at the risk of finding one day soon that they have lost their vibrant country.

MARTIN WOLFF
Taipei County

Chinese oppression of minorities
　

By Paul Lin 林保華
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009, Page 8

‘If the CCP really views Uighurs as Chinese, blood should prove to be thicker than water and the CCP should stop the killings.’

The unrest in Urumqi and the massacre of Muslim Uighurs once again highlighted the instability of Chinese society and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) cruel, merciless nature.

At 11pm on June 25 in Shaoguan City in Guangdong Province, a fight broke out between Han Chinese workers and Uighur workers over rumors that a Uighur had raped a Han Chinese girl at a factory. The result was that two Uighur workers were killed and 118 people injured, 79 of them Uighurs. Armed police did not intervene until after 4am. With the CCP’s ability to stop protests even before they get started, this was a very slow response, which in effect meant the party approved the beating of Uighurs. The Chinese government’s long-term nationalistic propaganda aimed at giving the Uighurs a bad name has resulted in most Han Chinese viewing Uighurs as suicide bombers, splittists and terrorists.

After the incident, Chinese authorities did not release any news on how they intended to stop the ethnic conflict. When a group of Uighurs protested in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi last Sunday, it turned into a bloodbath. How this peaceful protest turned into conflict remains a mystery because the CCP had blocked all information in and out of the area, including telephones and the Internet. News reports at around midnight on July 5 said only two people died, but the morning after, officials announced that the death toll had jumped to 140 with 828 injured. Not long after the second set of figures were released, Beijing announced that the death toll had increased to 156 and yesterday raised it to 186 — with many believing that the real figure is much higher.

Thanks to the authorities rapidly “calming the unrest,” many people were killed that night and their corpses quickly disposed of, with thousands more arrested. Reporters from outside of Xinjiang were then allowed into designated areas for interviews, while the government laid all the blame on the president of the World Uighur Congress Rebiya Kadeer, a 62-year-old Uighur businesswoman who lives in exile in the US. The surprising effectiveness of the Chinese government’s actions imply that the incident was carefully planned in advance to draw the Uighurs out and give them a beating without leaving any traces behind.

The Uighurs have been wrongly accused and even with reporters from other areas and abroad arriving on pre-arranged tours, there were brave people who — like the monks last year in Tibet — directly exposed the CCP’s tricks and violent acts, saying troops drove directly at protesters in armored cars and raided the houses of innocent Uighur civilians taking away all able-bodied men.

This is the second mass slaughter conducted by the CCP after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. Is this how Beijing has “improved its human rights” record as President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has claimed? Because China is a powerful country, the international community has been relatively silent in its response. The UN should step forward and investigate these racially motivated killings. While an investigation team may be deceived by the CCP, at least it would force the CCP to restrain itself somewhat.

If the CCP really views Uighurs as Chinese, blood should prove to be thicker than water and the CCP should stop the killings. If however, the CCP views the Uighurs as some foreign tribe, they should be given the right to self-determination.

The reaction of the Taiwanese media was slow and television talk shows did not even touch on the issue on Monday evening. Have they forgotten all about the 228 incident? Last year and this year, the 228 Memorial Foundation held international symposiums on Xinjiang and invited Kadeer to provide a written statement. This year, I submitted a report on the latest state of human rights in Xinjiang and said Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) concept of hexie (和諧), or harmony, is not applicable to the Uighurs and that the current secretary of the CCP in Xinjiang, Wang Lequan (王樂泉) and his empire have deliberately stirred up tensions to increase conflict. Judging by the recent developments, I was right.

Taiwanese should open their eyes and see what is happening. If Taiwan is swallowed up by China because of Ma’s surrender to the CCP, the Han Chinese — who long have been brainwashed into viewing Taiwan with hostility — will sooner or later be manipulated to kill Taiwanese and another 228 incident will become a reality.

Paul Lin is a political commentator.

Restricting freedom of expression in Taiwan
　

By The Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights 捍衛民主人權陣線
Sunday, Jul 12, 2009, Page 8

The Chinese government arrested one of the originators of Charter 08, dissident and Tiananmen pro-democracy movement veteran Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), on the grounds that he was instigating the overthrow of the government. We find it very upsetting that China, which keeps talking about its “peaceful rise,” would employ such measures to deal with an unarmed academic.

Democracies around the world immediately criticized the Chinese government for undermining human rights and suppressing freedom of speech. In Hong Kong, a mass protest was staged on July 1, with people gathering in support of Liu, including human rights lawyers, dissidents and others who have suffered political persecution in China. As a Taiwanese advocacy group with a deep concern for democracy and human rights, we join in the support for these people.

We do not only want to express our support for Liu or the many Chinese who have been robbed of their freedom of speech and religion, but also our concern that a similar situation is developing here in Taiwan. Lin Chia-fan (林佳範), a professor at National Taiwan Normal University, and Lee Ming-tsung (李明璁), an associate professor of sociology at National Taiwan University, were both recently charged under the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).

In addition, many proposed amendments to the Act Governing the Administrative Impartiality of Public Officials (公務人員行政中立法) and the Educational Fundamental Act (教育基本法) that would restrict the rights of public servants and teachers to participate in politics are very worrying and point to increasing measures aimed at limiting freedom of expression.

We must ask whether Taiwan’s human rights standards will soon become integrated with China’s anti-human rights policies to bring about unification.

To prevent this nightmare from becoming reality, civic groups that strive to protect democracy and human rights in Taiwan have set up the Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights to call on the public and groups who care about freedom, democracy and human rights here and abroad to come together and take action to stop the deterioration of Taiwan’s democracy.

We think that since the bloody clashes that occurred in November when Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) visited Taiwan, the authorities have carried out numerous legal amendments and administrative measures to restrict human rights without paying attention to public opinion. Trials have been openly conducted in ways contradictory to the principle of rule of law, leaving the public with the feeling that the government is on a political manhunt and conducting a “liquidation” of members of the former government. Such “developments” have dealt a massive blow to the self-confidence and sense of pride Taiwanese have developed as a result of democratization.

We believe that anybody who believes in human rights will not accept suppression by the state of people with differing political opinions. This is why we solemnly urge the Chinese government to stop persecuting Liu and others like him.

In regards to Taiwan, we believe the Assembly and Parade Act is unconstitutional and the judiciary should therefore declare Lin and Lee not guilty.

We also believe that proposed clauses in the Act Governing the Administrative Impartiality of Public Officials involving the use of improper means to suppress the civil right to participate in politics should be immediately revised in order to truly put the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) recently signed.