China/Taiwan/EU: EU urged to confront China at summit

June 17, 2018

OPEN LETTER:‘The EU’s broad and principled commitment to promoting human rights has not been matched in China with a willingness to act,’ the letter said

Ahead of next month’s EU-China summit, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights on Wednesday joined US government-funded non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch and several other international advocacy groups in issuing an open letter to EU officials to raise public awareness about the “growing human rights crisis” in China.

The coalition of groups urged the EU to fulfill its pledge to promote human rights globally by repeatedly calling for the release of political prisoners detained by the Chinese government, including poet Liu Xia (劉霞), the widow of journalist Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), and Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲).

The letter is addressed to European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker ahead of the July 12 to 13 summit, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu E-ling (邱伊翎) said yesterday.

Just weeks after last year’s summit, Chinese authorities ignored an international outcry, including pressure from several EU member states, and denied the wish of late 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo to leave China to seek medical treatment for liver cancer.

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The letter also called on the EU to pressure China for the release of human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全璋), Uighur academic Ilham Tohti, Tibetan-language education advocate Tashi Wangchuk and other people China has charged with crimes not recognized elsewhere in the international community, or detained for simply taking steps toward protecting human rights.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/06/17/2003695019

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/8624/2018/en/

http://www.advocatenvooradvocaten.nl/13363/china-joint-letter-to-eu-ahead-of-2018-eu-china-summit/

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3459034

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-eu/china-vice-premier-liu-to-meet-eu-delegation-next-week-idUSKBN1JH065?il=0

https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/take-action/free-chinese-lawyer-wang-quanzhang/?utm_source=FBPAGE-IS&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1597762615&utm_campaign=Amnesty&utm_term=News (PETITION – PLEASE SIGN!)

https://www.ifex.org/china/2018/06/30/eu-china-summit/fr/ (FRANCAIS)

China/Taiwan: Tortured Activist Who Fled China Applies For Political Asylum in Taiwan

June 1, 2018

Chinese rights activist Huang Yan, a former torture victim who spoke out publicly in support of rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, has been granted a temporary stay in the democratic island of Taiwan after being recognized as a genuine refugee by the United Nations.

Huang abandoned a flight from Jakarta to Beijing during its stopover in Taiwan on Tuesday, and sought political asylum on the island instead, she told RFA in an interview on Wednesday.

“I am very happy,” she said. “When I left the airport in Taiwan, pushing my suitcase, I thought to myself that I am totally free. But at the same time, I am still suffering psychologically from all the years of persecution.”

“I was thinking that I would start revealing [my story], bit by bit, after I arrived in Taiwan,” she said. “There is so much to tell; I wouldn’t get done telling it if I spoke for several days and nights without stopping.”

Huang said she is very grateful to Taiwan, which has never been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, for letting her in on a 90-day permit while her application is being considered.

“Thank God, and thank Taiwan,” she said.

Huang arrived aboard a flight operated by the island’s flag-carrier China Airlines. Her ticket took her as far as Beijing, but she declined to board the second leg of the flight, and made herself known to Taiwan officials at the airport.

She was supported in her application by Yang Sen-hong, president of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights, and his wife Ling Yao-chiu, its secretary-general.

The couple met Huang, 48, when she emerged at Taoyuan International Airport on Wednesday.

A genuine refugee

Huang fled China after years of harassment, repeated incarceration, and torture at the hands of the mainland Chinese authorities linked to her rights activism.

Her escape to Thailand from the former British colony of Hong Kong, which runs a separate immigration border from mainland China, was assisted by Bob Fu, president of U.S.-based Christian rights group China Aid, and culminated in her being recognized as a genuine refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

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https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/tortured-activist-who-fled-china-applies-for-political-asylum-in-taiwan-06012018112323.html

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/05/30/taiwan-grants-three-month-stay-chinese-human-rights-activist-seeking-political-asylum/

http://standardnewswire.com/news/5114914025.html

http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/2148068/will-china-allow-rights-lawyer-gao-zhisheng-seek-medical-help-abroad

https://globalvoices.org/2018/06/02/who-are-chinas-political-prisoners-a-human-rights-assessment-29-years-after-tiananmen/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gao_Zhisheng

#709crackdown 

#709lawyers

China/Taiwan/Hong Kong: Tiananmen commemorations planned for Monday

June 1, 2018

COUNTING THE DAYS:It has been 438 days since Lee Ming-che’s arrest in China and 1,000 days since Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang disappeared

A coalition of human rights groups yesterday said it would hold a series of events on Monday to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre and called on people to stand up against Beijing’s human rights abuses.

China has over the past few years stepped up its suppression of human rights, targeting not only its citizens inside the country, but also Chinese nationals abroad and foreigners in China, Taiwan Association for Human Rights secretary-general Chiu Ee-ling (邱伊翎) said.

“China is no longer just trying to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty — it is now a threat to global human rights,” she said.

It has been 438 days since Taiwanese democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) was arrested in China and more than 1,000 days since Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全璋) disappeared, she said, adding that Chinese poet Liu Xia (劉霞), the widow of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), also remains under house arrest.

As China’s close neighbor, Taiwan must collaborate with the international community to make a stand against Beijing’s crackdown on human rights, she said.

In July 2015, during what later came to be known as the “709 crackdown,” Beijing arrested hundreds of human rights lawyers, many of whom were tortured, Taiwan Support China Human Rights Lawyers Network convener Kuo Chi-jen (郭吉仁) said.

“Following the crackdown, things have continued to worsen,” he said. “Since August last year, the government has suspended the licenses of 17 human rights lawyers. While most of them were involved in the ‘709 crackdown,’ some were suspended simply because they defended a Falun Gong practitioner.”

…

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/06/01/2003694112

https://www.hrichina.org/en/press-work/press-release/open-letter-xi-jinping-tiananmen-mothers?utm_source=HRIC%20Updates&utm_campaign=17b39ea2fa-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_05_31_10_32&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b537d30fde-17b39ea2fa-259223637

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/05/31/china-answer-tiananmen-massacre-calls-justice

https://www.hrichina.org/en/press-work/statement/international-community-must-support-tiananmen-mothers-press-official?utm_source=HRIC%20Updates&utm_campaign=9c5e34f65e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_06_01_04_37&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b537d30fde-9c5e34f65e-259223637

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2018/06/03/june-4-need-solidarity-peoples-oppose-one-party-dictatorship-china/

https://zh.amnesty.org/more-resources/june-fourth-tian-anmen-victims-family-seeking-justice/ (CHINESE)

https://www.hrichina.org/chs/xin-wen-gong-zuo/sheng-ming/guo-ji-she-hui-bi-xu-zhi-chi-tian-men-mu-qin-dun-cu-zhong-guo-dang-ju (CHINESE)

#709lawyers

#709crackdown

Egypt/Day of the Endangered Lawyer: Taipei

24/01/18

(L’Observatoire IDHAE Facebook)

People in the pictures (from left to right, all four are Attorney-at-Law):

– Ms. Lin Tzu-lin, Chairperson of the Human Rights Protection Committee of the Taipei Bar Association

– Mr. Guo Ji-ren, Convener of the Taiwan Support China Human Rights Lawyers Network

– Ms. Yu Mei-nu, Member of the Congress, Chairperson of the Congress All-Party Caucus on International Human Rights

– Mr. Wang Lung-kuan Lukas, Board member of the Taipei Bar Association.

Press Conference on the Day of the Endangered Lawyers 2018: Egypt

Time: Wednesday, 9:00a.m., January 24, 2018

Place: Room 101, Research Building of the Congress, Taipei, Taiwan

Organizer: Taiwan Support China Human Rights Lawyers Network

Co-sponsors: Congress Office of Yu Mei-nu; Human Rights Protection Committee of the Taipei Bar Association; Congress All-Party Caucus on International Human Rights

Follow-up Action: The groups will send a petition letter to the Minister of Justice of Egypt.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOiifj1dfUErcEMYfPWGlnzHmo1kjspnQ4MXiGkayw0kY0ogGhGQ2kl3FiS7MD1KA?key=QkttRW9fRVJJZktWMHV3N0tMRXp2UkpzWHV0a3pR

https://www.facebook.com/events/109981356447917/

http://www.setn.com/news.aspx?newsid=340745 (CHINESE)

China: In China, Despair for Cause of Democracy After Nobel Laureate’s Death

July 20, 2017

For years, the fiery band of activists pushing for democracy in China looked to Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Nobel Peace laureate, as a source of inspiration. They created social media groups devoted to his iconoclastic poetry. They held up his photos at rallies, demanding justice and transparency.

But Mr. Liu’s death last week of liver cancer, after a final, futile attempt by friends to bring about his release, has dealt a withering blow to the pro-democracy movement. Some say it is now at its weakest point since the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.

“It’s a turning point,” said Yan Wenxin, a human rights lawyer in Beijing. “The feeling of powerlessness among activists has peaked.”

Under President Xi Jinping, the government has imprisoned dozens of lawyers, journalists and advocates and tightened controls over the internet. Now, the ruling Communist Party’s feverish attempts to erase Mr. Liu’s legacy have raised fears that Mr. Xi will intensify his campaign against activists pushing for ideas like freedom of speech and religion.

…

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/20/chinese-agents-bar-access-free-liu-xia-wife-of-liu-xiaobo-beijing

China/Hong Kong/Taiwan: Human Rights: Is China likely to build a better world?

July 10, 2017

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has been busy traveling the world to deliver the message that China is a responsible power, ready for world leadership. The official Xinhua news agency said of his visit to Hamburg for the G20 gathering: “Chinese President Xi Jinping has demonstrated China’s readiness to join the rest of the world in building a better world for everyone.”

Within China, however, not everyone would agree that a better world was being built for them. Sunday [July 9] marked the second anniversary of the “709 crackdown” against human rights defenders, which began on July 9, 2015. According to China Change, an organization that works with Chinese democracy advocates, more than 300 human rights lawyers and activists have been detained, disappeared, temporarily rounded up and interrogated.

To mark the second anniversary, the China Human Rights Lawyers Group, founded in 2013, issued a statement in which it recalled the first arrests, that of Beijing-based lawyer Wang Yu and her husband, Bao Longjun, and their son, Bao Zhuoxuan.

“This was a prelude to the mass arrests of the July 9 sweep,” the group said. “After July 9, over 360 lawyers and citizens around the country were summoned and subjective to coercive, high-pressure interrogations. The family members of lawyers and rights activities were also implicated and subjected to constant threats and intimidation.”

These events have not gone unnoticed overseas. The New York City Bar Association also issued a statement marking the “709 Crackdown” on Sunday.

…

http://www.ejinsight.com/20170710-human-rights-is-china-likely-to-build-a-better-world/

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/acs/201707090011.aspx

http://www.dw.com/en/chinese-human-rights-lawyers-remain-defiant-despite-crackdown/a-39622282

http://www.dw.com/en/chinese-human-rights-lawyers-remain-defiant-despite-crackdown/a-39622282?maca=en-Twitter-sharing

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/chinas-treatment-of-liu-xiabo-shows-its-not-ready-for-global-leadership/article35634965/

http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/XQL-07102017030919.html (CHINESE)

https://www.voachinese.com/a/voaweishi-20170710-connect2-709-lawyer/3935749.html (CHINESE)

http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/17/7/10/n9374432.htm (CHINESE)

http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/hx-07102017103502.html (CHINESE)

http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/bulletin/2017/07/10/0200000000AKR20170710122700074.HTML (KOREAN)

Inaugural China Human Rights Lawyers’ Day, Hong Kong, July 9, 2017

China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group chairpersn Albert Ho announced the inaugural Day for Human Rights Lawyers in China, followed by a moment of silence, a protest of 7 minutes 09 seconds by Hong Kong lawyers and lawmakers. Some prominent figures from the Hong Kong legal community were present, including Mr Mrtin Lee, Ms. Margaret Ng, Ms Audrey Yu and Mr Eric Cheung. The protest was also joined by a group of young lawyers from the Progrssive Lawyers Group.

 

China/Taiwan: Chinese crackdown in spotlight

July 8, 2017

Democracy campaigners yesterday announced plans to hold events tomorrow to draw attention to a 2015 Chinese crackdown on human rights lawyers and renewed calls for Beijing to release Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波).

Human rights groups and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei called for the release of Wu Gan (吳淦), Jiang Tianyong (江天勇), Wang Quanzhang (王全璋) and other Chinese lawyers imprisoned following a crackdown on July 9, 2015, which saw hundreds detained.

“The 2015 crackdown shocked lawyers, non-governmental organizations and Taiwanese society in general,” Taiwanese China Human Rights Lawyers Support Network secretary Chou Ching-chang (周慶昌) said.

“We hope these events on the second anniversary of the crackdown will prompt the Chinese government to respond,” Chou said.

Chou led the groups to shout slogans calling for Beijing to release those it has detained.

Two documentaries on the lawyers’ work and imprisonment are to be screened tomorrow at the National Taiwan University Alumni Club next to the Legislative Yuan and at the Jhonghe District (中和) branch of the National Central Library in New Taipei City, with stalls and petitions set up at Number Four Park (四號公園) in Jhonghe.

…

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2017/07/08/2003674116

https://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/7410447-china-s-abuses-aren-t-fake-news/

http://thediplomat.com/2017/07/chinas-newest-censorship-methods-on-display/

Two Years on: An Update on Lawyer Wang Yu, the First 709 Detainee

https://www.voanews.com/a/china-crackdown-lawyers-calls-for-investigation-torture-allegations/3932673.html