|
Support a Chinese ‘Jasmine Revolution,’
activists say
Staff Writer, with CNA
The people and government of Taiwan should offer more support for a Chinese
“Jasmine Revolution” because democracy and human rights are universal values,
and a democratic China would serve Taiwan’s interests, rights activists said
yesterday.
Several human rights advocates held a press conference in Taipei to comment on
the rumblings of revolution that have surfaced on Chinese Web sites over the
past week.
A Boxun.com blog post on Feb. 17 called on people to gather at 2pm last Saturday
in 13 Chinese cities to protest for “food, jobs, living space, fairness and
justice.”
The movement, described as the “Jasmine Revolution,” ended with the arrest of
protesters and a wave of Internet censorship.
The rights activists said that people in Taiwan — independence supporters and
unification supporters alike — should support China’s democratic movement and
the government should lead the charge.
Taiwan Association for China Human Rights president Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏) urged
the government to actively voice its opinions on human rights and democracy, and
make clear that it will not hold political dialogue unless China addresses these
issues.
“President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), as a head of state, should have the courage to
single out China’s human rights problems,” Yang said.
Ruan Ming (阮銘), a former Chinese academic who now has Taiwanese citizenship,
said: “China and other authoritarian regimes are witnessing a new era of
political movements driven by youth, who present their ideology with a new
strategy — the Internet.”
The political movement that has swept through Africa and the Middle East is
destined to arrive in China eventually, he said, adding that even though the
number of people answering the call this past week may be small, “the Chinese
government is obviously nervous.”
John Wei (魏千峰), a human rights attorney, urged the Chinese government to
initiate dialogue with dissidents and called on Taiwanese to pay attention, and
support human rights and peaceful democratic movements in China.
“A collapsed China is not necessarily a good thing for Taiwan,” he said.
Chang Tieh-chih (張鐵志), a well-known blogger, warned that Taiwanese know too
little about China, especially its “dark side,” despite warming cross-strait
ties. The crackdown on dissidents and the censorship of the Internet showed that
“China might be powerful on the outside, but it is, in fact, fragile on the
inside.”
“No one can predict when a revolution will happen,” Chang said. “However, the
social situation in China has reached a boiling point and the Chinese people are
now more courageous than ever in voicing their opinions.”
Posts circulating on the Internet have hinted that there could be a second wave
of protests tomorrow.
|
