Lee Ming-Che has not been heard from for 23 days. On Monday, China revoked his wife’s travel permit shortly before she got on a flight to Beijing where she was planning to speak with authorities about her husband’s whereabouts.

According to China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Lee is being held on suspicion that he engaged in activities that endangered national security. But Taiwanese officials want to know more.

This conflict further damages the already strained, nearly non-existent, relationship between Beijing and Taipei. Neither party has formally recognized the other for more than 70 years and China still regards Taiwan as a breakaway province under its control.

“We urge the mainland Chinese side to look at this issue correctly and respond immediately including with a speedy disclosure of the real reasons and location of detention as well as let family visit as soon as possible to avoid complicating matters and even causing impacts that neither side wants to see,” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement Monday.

Lee is long-time activist, a philosophy scholar, and a former worker for Taiwan’s ruling party – one that many critics view as independence leaning, even though President Tsai Ing-wen never publicly endorsed autonomy. China and Taiwan have not exchanged official dialogue since she took office last May.

Lee’s colleagues say he went missing on March 19 after taking a flight from Taipei to the Chinese territory of Macau. They say he was on his way to Guangzhou to visit friends and buy Chinese medicine for his mother in-law.

But his activities in Taiwan were quite extensive, according to some of his contacts. One fellow human rights worker said he visited China once a year in the past decade to assist Chinese lawyers in human rights cases. Since July 2015, Chinese authorities have targeted more than 200 human rights lawyers and activists in a nationwide crackdown, says the advocacy group Amnesty International.

Police in Taipei had to keep angry protestors at bay to protect 20-year-old Joshua Wong, the secretary general of Hong Kong’s minor party Demosito, along with three party lawmakers. Wong and another activist Nathan Law were reportedly attacked on their way home following the weekend forums.

The group traveled to Taiwan hoping to garner support from the self-ruled island, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province that remains under Chinese control. According to island polls, 70% of its citizens oppose reunification with China, something China has publicly said it’s ready to bring about by force. Moreover, the ruling party of Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-Wen and most of Parliament leans toward independence.

Still, a pocket of pro-Beijing sympathizers exists in Taiwan, and the event sparked questions about who organized the protests. Answers range from local pro-Beijing activists to organized gangs.

Pro-unification activist group The Patriot Assn. claims it organized the protest.

The Taipei Times newspaper quoted local anti government protest leader Lin Fei-fan as saying he has information linking the protests to the Four Seas Gang, an international triad composed mostly of people with connections to mainland China. Patriot Assn. maintains the syndicate was not involved.

The episode began as soon as Wong’s delegation arrived Saturday to about 200 protesters at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Police then escorted Wong to a vehicle which took him to the forum, where 300 protesters gathered. About 20 activists gathered Sunday morning to protest again, according to a police statement. They were questioned and their case turned over to prosecutors.

But the counter wave followed Wong back to Hong Kong, where he was attacked by another group of people supporting China, according to an an aide to Law.

“To my surprise, they started pushing toward me even though there were a few airport security staff surrounding me,” Law said in a statement Monday. “Their actions quickly escalated when they tried to pull me out of the crowd, where my shirt was torn apart and my glasses fell off as a result. Some of them even poured some unknown stinking liquid and threw plastic bottles at me.

“I was immediately escorted by the airport security to the taxi station, but unfortunately I was attacked again at the staircase,” he said.

Tibetan exile media is reporting that the Chinese government is moving to limit border crossings ahead of the Dalai Lama’s trip to India. The spiritual leader will be leading a series of Buddhist teaching events based on Kalachakra. These outlets also say that Tibetans recently traveled to India before being summoned back to Tibet by Chinese authorities ahead of the teachings.

This would not be the first time Kalachakra caused controversy. According to the International Campaign for Tibet, 8,000 Tibetans were detained in 2012 after returning from these teachings. The Chinese government has never revealed an official number behind the detentions.

The new measures were announced in December. The Tibet Daily quoted Bagdro, the deputy head of Tibet border police force, as saying the “renewed” regulation focuses on restricting movements in border areas and stabilizing the region through economic and social development. Missing, however, were reports of terrorism prevention as a motive.

Today, a senior Taiwanese official announced President Tsai Ing-wen and a 90-strong delegation plan to land on U.S. soil to meet members of Congress. Beijing believes Taiwan is nothing more than a renegade province ultimately under its control, and the U.S. supports its so called “One China Policy.”

Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman said such a move would “send wrong signals to Taiwan independence forces.” The Communist country began beefing up its military presence around the international airspace above Taiwan, after United States President-elect Donald Trump said the U.S. can change course on the One China Policy. The U.S. does not share formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. It doesn’t even officially host Taiwanese leaders.

Now, officials in Beijing and D.C. are speculating whether the Taiwanese president would cross paths with Trump and members of his emerging administration– an unprecedented move that will undoubtedly infuriate China and put it on guard.

“Going forward, China-US relations will face new complexities and uncertain factors … Only if China and the US respect each and consider [the] other’s core interests and key concerns can there be long-term, stable cooperation,” said Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, in a People’s Daily interview.

China, which has long been suspicious of Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party, believes that the president will use her time in the U.S. to rally diplomatic and political opposition to the Communist regime in Beijing.

Tsai called for unity during a closed meeting with the DPP. “At a time of change, national solidarity across party lines is increasingly needed to fight against foreign forces,” a party spokesman, Yang Chia-liang, quoted Tsai as saying. “China has never stopped suppressing Taiwan’s international participation and diplomatic efforts.”

While speaking at a national defense committee, Javier Hou, deputy foreign minister, said Tsai’s planned trip to the U.S. would be made in accordance with past practice.

Now, the government of the African island nation of Sao Tome and Principle have cut official ties with Taipei. Any government wishing to establish diplomatic relations with China must support the One China policy and shun Taiwan. This notion is recognized by the United States and other world powers.

China welcomed Sao Tome’s move and congratulated the island nation for getting “back onto the correct path of the One China principle.”

The shift comes a little more than a week after president-elect Donald J. Trump pulled away from traditional diplomatic policy and said the U.S. does not have to recognize the One China Principle. No stranger to controversy, Trump also shocked media pundits across the nation after becoming the first U.S. soon-to-be president to have official communications with a Taiwanese authority, after he said he accepted a congratulatory phone call from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.

Taiwanese Foreign Minister David Lee says that Sao Tome was demanding “an astronomical amount of financial help.” He provided no further details on the topic but added, “We think the Beijing government should not use Sao Tome’s financing black hole … as an opportunity to push its ‘One China’ principle”

“This behavior is not helpful to a smooth cross-strait relationship.”

During the past couple of months, several organizations took movements in order to separate China to different territories. The President has taken necessary measures in order to eliminate the negative consequences that can happen as a result of it. For example, the Chinese government has suspended communications with Taiwan until it agrees to follow the “One China” policy. Likewise, the President has urged Hong Kong to follow the same policy so that they can stand strong as a one nation.

President Xi Jinping also stated that all the activities taken place with the objective of splitting China would be strongly opposed by the people. In fact, no person in China wants the country to be divided into different territories under any conditions. It is up to the President to make sure such things don’t happen in the future.

The government of China has criticized the independence of Hong Kong. In fact, the Chinese government discourages the activities of these separatists. Recently Zhang Dejiang, who is the number three ranking leader of China made a visit to Hong Kong and made a strong statement, saying that the country would undoubtedly rot if it does not agree to the One China policy. President Xi Jinping highlighted this fact during his speech as well.

The Chinese government led by President Xi Jinping is looking forward to make mainland China and the surrounding islands into a single Chinese nation. However, it has to face a series of challenges in order to achieve this objective. However, the President stated that they would achieve that target in the near future, regardless of the challenges that they have to face along the way.

Each year, June 4th is filled with deep anguish and mourning of the thousands of innocent lives unmercifully lost that day.

To commemorate the anniversary this year, hundreds of demonstrators marched the streets of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong legislator Lee Cheuk-yan is quoted by Asia One as saying, “This is the 27th year after 1989 and the people in Hong Kong, we, are still persistently calling for the vindication of June 4 and the end of one-party rule and democratic China. And also, everyone can see that, the suppression is not just back in 1989, it is also today in China, today in Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong Free Press puts the number of protestors at approximately 1,500 people, though the official police statement, not surprisingly, estimated the size at half that. Last year’s commemoration attracted nearly 3,000 people.

The crowd was passionate, calling for equality and democracy as well as voicing their agony over the cruelty and callousness of the tyrannical Chinese Communist Party.  “Persist until the end! Never give up! Redress June 4! End one-party rule!” they chanted, Nikkei Asian Review reported.

Like most protests, however, groups of opposition were present as well. News platform Asia One wrote that Monday’s march was met by “dozens of pro-Beijing supporters,” who claim that reports agreed upon worldwide of civilian casualties at Tiananmen Square were enormously inflated.

One such CCP “patriot” was Peter Lam. “For 27 years, they (pro-democratic leaders) have been holding marches to draw attention to the Tiananmen Square massacre. I think this is not the truth. There are casualties in the 1989 riots, but the majority of those who died were military, as well as innocent civilians and students,” the loyalist said.

Mainland China works hard effacing what happened that tragic day 27 years ago; you won’t find the terms ‘Tiananmen Square Massacre’, ‘Tank Man’, or even the innocuous-sounding ‘June 4th’ anywhere on the web, and those who were alive then are too scared to mention the word, fearing persecution and imprisonment. The only version of Tiananmen Square is the Party’s version.

While people in mainland China are either clueless to the atrocious event or simply remain docilely silent on the matter, it is somewhat encouraging – even if ever-so-slightly – that the people of Hong Kong are taking an outspoken stand against the oppression and brutality of the Communist Party, paying tribute to and continuing on the message of the demonstrators who protested on June 4th, 1989.

Hong Kong’s unique legal status makes it the only place where commemorative demonstrations are allowed.

Mr. Tashi was detained on January 27 and charged with ‘inciting separatism’, according to an official police document. Mr. Tashi’s relatives were not informed of his arrest until March 24, leaving them in the dust of his whereabouts for almost two months.

According to Chinese law, it is required that a detainee’s family be notified within 24 hours. The police’s actions were clearly in violation of their own laws. A police officer gave Mr. Tashi’s family a document stating the charge along with a photograph, which was dated March 4. 

Mr. Tashi is being held in the main detainee facility in Yushu, a town in Qinghai Province in western China. He resides in Yushu with his elderly parents and also runs his own shop.

In addition to this business, Mr. Tashi works tirelessly as an advocate for the preservation of Tibetan culture, and most notably, for his work on language education. The New York Times reports that Mr. Tashi says that “schools should adopt a true system of bilingual education so that Tibetan children can become fluent in their mother language.”

Prior to his arrest, Mr. Tashi had written about his strong beliefs on the matter in his microblog. He expressed that Tibetans needed to protect their culture and that Chinese officials should aid them in doing so.

Although he publicly opposes Tibetan independence and stresses that none of his work takes that stance, he has argued for greater Tibetan autonomy within China.

“The dearth of effective Tibetan language education, and the fact that the language is not used in government offices, violates the Chinese Constitution, which guarantees cultural autonomy for Tibetan and other ethnic regions,” he has said.

Mr. Tashi’s advocacy work has not gone unnoticed in the international realm. Last year, the New York Times quoted him in two articles on Tibetan language and culture. The Times also placed him as its main subject of a documentary video about his efforts to use the legal system as a means to urge Chinese officials to better improve Tibetan language education.

Mr. Tashi’s family has said that they have been unable to find a local lawyer to represent Mr. Tashi. There has been no announcement for a trial date. If found guilty, Mr. Tashi could face up to 15 years in prison.

]]> http://chinacheatsheets.com/tibetan-advocate-held-secret-weeks-china-charged-inciting-separatism/feed/ 0 http://chinacheatsheets.com/trump-tiananmen-a-riot-put-down-by-strong-government/ http://chinacheatsheets.com/trump-tiananmen-a-riot-put-down-by-strong-government/#respond Sat, 12 Mar 2016 17:58:24 +0000 http://chinacheatsheets.com/?p=1008 [...]]]> Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump was taken to task for comments he made in which he called the Tiananmen Massacre a “riot” and lauded the Chinese for showing “strong” leadership in 1989.

In the CNN Republican presidential debate yesterday, Jake Tapper asked Trump to respond to comments he made in 1990, shortly after the Chinese government rolled tanks into Beijing killing hundreds or even thousands of students and other protesters.

“The Chinese government almost blew it,” Trump had told Playboy magazine. “Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak.”

In the debate, Trump argued the he wasn’t endorsing the Chinese reaction in 1989.

“Strong doesn’t mean good,” he said. “I say it as the fact… I said, that is a strong powerful government that put it down. They kept down the riot, it was a horrible thing.”

Prior to June 4th, 1989, student-led protests were erupting at universities around the country. Representing a rising middle class, they were demanding more freedoms from the restrictive government including speech and access to education.

Thousands of students and other activists eventually took over Tiananmen Square prompting the government to mobilize the military which fired on civilians killing an untold number.

The military quickly removed the bodies and China has refused to give an official number of dead but unofficial estimates put it anywhere between several hundred and thousands.

The US officially condemned the violent crackdown along with world leaders around the world. Following his comments, Trump’s competitor, former Ohio Governor John Kasich, reflected that sentiment.

“The Chinese government butchered those kids,” he said. “And when that young man stood in front of that tank; we ought to build a statue of him over here when he faced down the Chinese government.”

Trump, however, continued to promote what he sees as “strong” leadership, repeating that he sees President Obama as “weak” in world affairs.

“I think Putin’s been a very strong leader for Russia, he’s been a lot stronger than our leader, that I can tell you,” Trump added. “That doesn’t mean I’m endorsing Putin.”

Even though the regions housing these minorities face serious issues and ethnic tensions threaten to cripple stability, these delegates had mostly good news to report.

The Tibet region’s chairman announced a new high-altitude railway that would bring “even more prosperity to the region.” Little mention was made of the tension permeating the region, where more than 140 people have set themselves on fire since 2009 to protest the government’s rampant suppression of Tibetan culture.

Many Tibetans risk imprisonment while secretly worshiping the spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in secret. Padma Choling, head of Tibet’s People’s Congress, criticized the exiled spiritual leader at the conference.

“He betrayed our country, betrayed our people, betrayed his hometown,” said Padma. “So far, most activities he has conducted are splitting Tibet from China.”

The Dalai Lama has actually been calling for the government to defend cultural and religious freedom in the autonomous region rather than grant independence.

Losang Danba, the head of the municipal people’s congress in Lhasa, went as far as to say Tibetans glorify the communist party, when asked why Tibetan NPC delegates were wearing pins featuring the face of President Xi Jinping.

“[Under communist rule] Tibet was transformed from a slave and feudalist society, we were liberated, we got freedom, and became the host of our own house, so Tibetan people have a strong feeling for Chinese Communist Party leaders,” Losang said.

“Tibetan people are good at expressing their feelings, through singing about the party leaders, or from Mao Zedong’s times, by wearing the leaders’ badges.”

Some delegates also painted rosy pictures of Xinjiang, where Muslim Uighurs have launched waves of viscous attacks including random stabbings at a train station and a market.

“The people are in good spirits,” said Xinjiang party Chief Zhang Chunxian.

He also announced the government was making great strides in combating poverty in the region, while enhancing education.

To add to the illusion, several delegates also dressed in ethnic attire. The scene was characterized by a colorful wave of people. Some wore silvery headdresses, cowboy hats, and even golden antlers atop furry caps.

Delegates are not allowed to wear these in their daily lives.