Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

After coming under fire for not standing up for Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) in the immediate aftermath of her controversial disqualification from the Asian Games last week, the government finally caught on two days later, holding a press conference on Friday pledging to seek justice for Yang.

However, despite the action undertaken by members of the public who, on their own initiative, gave Yang a hero’s welcome upon her arrival in Taipei on Monday, the government has done little to show that it is determined to follow through on its vow to defend Yang’s name and dignity.

Although this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was given to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), who was thrown behind bars by the Chinese authorities and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), I really think the award was not aimed at rewarding Liu so much as it was aimed against Hu and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP.)

Have you ever heard of Carl von Ossietzky? Who was he? He was also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and he had something else in common with Liu. He was a prisoner of war and was locked up by Adolf Hitler. He was a reporter and his ideas opposing German military expansion angered the Nazis, in a way very similar to how Liu’s Charter 08 struck at the heart of tyrannical rule in China.