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Government urged to
help Taiwanese detained in China
TEARFUL PLEA: Falun Gong practitioner Chung
Ting-pang was taken by the Chinese authorities at Ganzhou airport as he was
attempting to return home
By Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter
Tearful Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and Falun Gong
practitioners yesterday called on the government to lend a helping hand to
Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioner Chung Ting-pang (Á鹩¨¹), who was taken away by
law enforcement agents in China on Monday to ¡§assist in an investigation of
Falun Gong activities¡¨ and has not been heard from since.
A Mainlander, Chung frequently travels to his father¡¦s hometown in Yongkang
City, Jiangxi Province, to visit his father¡¦s relatives, even after his father
passed away 15 years ago.
However, when he was about to leave the country after his most recent visit, he
was taken away by Chinese authorities at the airport in Ganzhou, Jiangxi
Province, his wife said.
¡§His relatives drove him to the airport and watched as he walked into the
restricted area, but he didn¡¦t arrive at the airport in Taiwan,¡¨ Chung¡¦s wife,
surnamed Lee (§õ), told a press conference at the legislature. ¡§We contacted his
relatives in China immediately; they went to check and told us that he was taken
away from the airport to ¡¥assist in an investigation of Falun Gong activities.¡¦¡¨
¡§It¡¦s the Dragon Boat Festival tomorrow [Saturday], a day for family reunions,
but I will have to ¡¥celebrate¡¦ it without my husband, my daughter without her
father, and my mother-in-law without her son,¡¨ a tearful Lee said.
Chung¡¦s mother, surnamed Lai (¿à), called on the government to help her son,
especially since it says that cross-strait relations are the best they have been
in decades.
¡§My son is a good man, he treats me well and looks after his father¡¦s relatives
in China, even 15 years after my husband¡¦s death,¡¨ Lai said. ¡§Falun Gong is his
religious belief. It¡¦s a religion that teaches truth, compassion and tolerance ¡X
my son¡¦s personal religious beliefs should not be the reason for his arrest.¡¨
Lee said the family has sought help from the Straits Exchange Foundation, but
the only reply they have received is that the foundation would notify its
counterpart in China, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits,
and then wait for its reply before taking any action.
¡§I want the government to be more proactive,¡¨ she added.
DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chun (¾GÄR§g) urged the Chinese government to respect
everyone¡¦s right to freedom of religion and unconditionally release Chung. Cheng
also called on the Taiwanese government to insist on clauses to protect the
rights of Taiwanese in China in any future agreements that Taipei signs with
Beijing.
¡§Everyone in Taiwan is now waiting to see if President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) ¡X who
vowed to make Taiwan a human rights-based country ¡X can help a fellow countryman
come home for the Dragon Boat Festival through all means and all channels
necessary,¡¨ said attorney Teresa Chu (¦¶°ûµX), spokesperson for the Falun Gong
Human Rights Lawyers Working Group.
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