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Lawmakers pass DPP resolution to invite Dalai Lama

Taipei Times

Despite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ recent refusal to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama, the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday passed a resolution to invite the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit Taiwan.

“The Dalai Lama is a very respected religious leader. It harms Taiwan’s reputation as a democracy when we refuse to issue him a visa,” said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who proposed the resolution. “I therefore suggest that the committee should adopt a resolution sincerely welcoming him.”

After Palestine, could it be Taiwan?

Taipei Times Editorial

Last week’s vote at the UN General Assembly to make Palestine a “non-member observer state” was a rare bit of good news from a region that often provides more than its share of misery. Besides breathing new life into the possibility of a two-state solution, the decision could also create a precedent for another seemingly intractable conflict of equal duration, that of Taiwan’s status vis-a-vis China.

Palestine’s journey from “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state” was not easy, nor was it uncontroversial. Furthermore, this new status, which is now equal to that of the Vatican, does not resolve a number of substantive issues, such as Israeli settlements or Hamas’ refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Taiwan’s human rights get thumbs-down in poll

Taipei Times

More than 40 percent of the respondents in an annual survey rated Taiwan’s overall performance in human rights protection this year as either “bad” or “very bad,” the Taipei-based Chinese Association for Human Rights said yesterday.

In terms of overall human rights protection, 27.7 percent of residents said Taiwan’s performance was bad, while 15.7 percent considered it to be very bad, the association said, citing the poll.

Only 4 percent of the respondents rated Taiwan’s overall human rights situation as “very good,” while 34.3 percent said it was “good” and 18.3 percent did not comment, according to the association.

Activists look back on start of FAPA

Taipei Times

Former foreign minister Mark Chen, former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Chai Trong-rong and Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin, left to right, speak during a press conference in Taipei yesterday to promote the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times

Pioneering democracy activists yesterday reminisced about the establishment and the achievements of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) ahead of its 30th anniversary and said the organization’s main goal would be safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty.

“In terms of diplomacy and protection of human rights in Taiwan, the association has done more in the past 30 years than the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration has,” former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) and former foreign minister Mark Chen (陳唐山), FAPA’s first and second presidents, told a press conference.

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