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Xinjiang, HK can
teach Taiwan
By Paul Lin 林保華
Last week, I was in Tokyo for an event marking the fifth anniversary of the
Japan Uighur Association. While there, I met with World Uyghur Congress
president Rebiya Kadeer, who was visiting Japan, and talked with her about
visiting Taiwan.
Kadeer gave several talks while in Japan. During an international press
conference in Tokyo, the topic that members of the foreign press were most
concerned about was whether the handing over of power to China’s new leaders,
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強), would
provide any possibility for reform, as well as the current conditions of the
Uighur people.
Kadeer said Uighur religion and culture still suffered major restrictions and
that Uighurs continue to be killed and sentenced.
It is for comments like these that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have
labeled her a “Xinjiang separatist.”
Therefore, although she is willing to enter into talks with the CCP to bring
about reconciliation and consolidation, it still seems that this will be very
hard to achieve.
Some of my like-minded friends recently established the Taiwan Friends of
Uighurs, which, apart from concerning itself with the human rights situation of
Uighurs, hopes that the CCP will carry out concrete reforms.
They also hope to remind the Taiwanese that if their nation fails to retain its
sovereignty, it will end up in a similar situation to Xinjiang and any protest
movement by the Taiwanese will be viewed as “terrorism.”
Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠) arrived in Taipei from New York last
Sunday. Chen has had a remarkable life.
It is intriguing how he managed to escape from his home in Shandong, even when
it was under full guard by CCP security officers, especially as the CCP was
spending as much as 60 million yuan (US$9.77 million) a year on Chen in the way
of “stability maintenance fees” and as much as 700 billion yuan a year on
security across China.
On Tuesday, Chen delivered a speech in the legislature about how human rights
should be the basis of cross-strait peace. Chen’s speech showed clearly that he
has a much better understanding of what peace is than President Ma Ying-jeou
(馬英九).
Ma has surrendered to China in exchange for peace, which will result in the
CCP’s violent rule of Taiwan.
It is fitting to remember the peace treaty that Tibet signed with China back in
1951, which China ignored just a few years later.
The handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from the UK to China in 1997 was part of
another international agreement between China and, this time, the UK, which was
submitted to the UN.
Now, China’s People’s Liberation Army guns can be seen pointed at Hong Kong’s
affluent Central District, threatening Hong Kongers. It is no wonder that Chen
said it is preferable to have legislators pushing each other around in the
legislature than a repeat of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Just as Chen was delivering one of his speeches, opposition legislators were
engaged in a shoving match with KMT legislators. Opposition party lawmakers were
trying to stop the Ma government from making an arbitrary decision on the
cross-strait service trade agreement and letting it automatically come into
effect without consulting the public.
These legislators demanded that the agreement be reviewed and voted on clause by
clause.
The service trade agreement will leave Taiwan wide open to China and have an
impact on millions of Taiwanese.
However, the Ma administration has used back-room deals to sign the agreement
with China. It has also used “cold violence” to strip the Taiwanese of their
most basic rights.
Given this, it is not at all wrong for the public and legislators to use extreme
methods to protest this situation.
Taiwanese cannot be like the Chinese, who have become slaves under thousands of
years of traditional Confucian education.
We need to use the blood that pumps in our veins to get rid of this slave
mentality, if we are serious about protecting the universal value of human
rights.
If peaceful and rational protest does not work, and when sovereignty and human
rights are in danger, because those in power use sinister means and violent
suppression, all men and women should unite in stronger protest.
Further, if a person is not angered by unfair speech and events, and acts as if
they never happened, I would say that that person does not have any human
feelings whatsoever.
Paul Lin is a political commentator.
Translated by Drew Cameron
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