Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

China continues to repress fundamental rights of Tibetans, says Amnesty International

Phayul.com

Ngawang Norphel and Tenzin Khedup raise Tibetan national flags as flames rise from their bodies. Zatoe, Keygudo June 20, 2012.

DHARAMSHALA, May 24: A new report on China has painted a grim picture of the world’s most populous country’s human rights record and revealed that Chinese authorities in Tibet continue to repress the fundamental rights of the Tibetan people.

Global rights watchdog, Amnesty International, in its Annual Report 2013 on the State of the World's Human Rights released Thursday said Chinese authorities maintained a “stranglehold on political activists, human rights defenders and online activists, subjecting many to harassment, intimidation, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance.”

Careless wording harms diplomacy

Taipei Times Editorial

Diplomatic tensions between Germany and Hungary arose recently after German Chancellor Angela Merkel used the word “cavalry” in remarks about concerns over constitutional changes in Hungary.

“We will do anything to get Hungary onto the right path — but not by sending in the cavalry right away,” Merkel said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban responded by referring to the German tanks that had invaded Hungary during World War II in 1944, even though the Germans explained that Merkel was only being ironic with her mention of cavalry.

Philippines vows to defend against China

Taipei Times

An undated handout photograph released by the Philippine military Western Command (WESCOM) yesterday shows an aerial view of BRP Sierra Madre, a 100m amphibious vessel built for the US in 1944 and acquired by the Philippine Navy in 1976, grounded at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands.
PHOTO: AFP

The Philippines vowed yesterday to fight China “to the last man standing,” as a Chinese warship patrolled around a remote reef occupied by a handful of Philippine Marines in disputed waters.

In the latest flare-up over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea, the Philippines this week denounced the “provocative and illegal presence” of the warship and a fleet of Chinese fishing vessels near the Second Thomas Shoal.

Xi’s memo is a wake-up call

Taipei Times Editorial

Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and his comely wife, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), may be the most outwardly attractive first couple to lead China in several generations, but behind the smiles and the glamor lies a hardline streak that Taiwan should not — cannot — ignore.

For months before he became president and chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), China watchers were divided on whether Xi would be a reformist in the same vein as former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev or the continuation of more conservative elements within the Chinese leadership.

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