Trampling the UN Declaration of Human Rights for 60 years

Chinese officials celebrate -- regular Chinese citizens, not so much

The United Nations (UN) will soon be celebrating the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (ratified December 10, 1948), a declaration which says that "the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world." The People's Republic of China (PRC), on the other hand, just proudly celebrated 60 years (and still counting) of trampling over the UDHR.



PRC missiles on display during their National Day
Screenshot from SETN (三立新聞)
(Click to enlarge)
The Empire State Building was at the center of a controversy for cheerleading Chinese Communism by lighting up the building's spire in red and yellow on China's national day. Such offensive behavior demonstrates that people with corporate minds but without business ethics do exist in capitalist America. The good side of this is that America is a country where there is enough freedom for others (Americans and foreigners alike) who don't agree with economic terrorism and cultural genocide to express their support for the oppressed people of Tibet.

Here's a YouTube video of a protester discussing the lighting ceremony of the Empire State Building in honor of the 60th anniversary of China's revolution and another one showing protesters outside the building Saying NO to China's Empire! Bravo to the Tibetans who stood up for themselves and fought back by projecting pro-Tibet messages from the base of the Empire State building onto other buildings in the vicinity!

On the same day, the blog of the conservative Heritage Foundation suggested that the Empire State Building should be lit up in blue and red to "honor the 'free' Chinese," but two wrongs don't make a right. Such a display would be the second half -- within 10 days! -- of a double insult to the people of Taiwan who suffered the 228 Massacre (二二八大屠殺) at the hands of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), a party which is now preparing to surrender to China -- taking the majority Taiwanese population along as hostages.

The people of Taiwan do not need the Empire State Building to be lit up in any color for them. We simply need our rights to build a normal nation to be respected.

Meanwhile, the Internet was shut off in Xinjiang (新疆, AKA Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, 新疆維吾爾自治區, East Turkestan, شەرقىي تۈركىستان, 東突厥斯坦) in early July and has still not been turned back on nearly three months later.

Chinese authorities simply don't want to give their citizens any freedom of expression. China's domestic Internet companies like Tencent currently has to share their records with the Chinese authorities as requested.

[See more, very interesting, and link-filled related information from Rebecca MacKinnon and Radio Free Asia on how Chinese authorities launched the latest cyber wars against their own citizens -- and more -- in the "References" section below.]

In addition to China's declaration of cyberwarfare against its own citizens, hackers known to the PRC government also attacked cultural events sites like those of the international film festivals in Melbourne, Australia and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Some Chinese citizens do dare to stage demonstrations against their authorities, but they only do so because Hong Kong has received more tolerant treatment from the rest of China. Watch a video of Hong Kong's police standing by observing demonstrators demanding more freedom and respect for human rights without harassing them (noticeable at the 0:38 and 0:57 marks in the video). The protest against the nearby Chinese National Day celebration (中國國慶 香港議員示威抗議) was organized by some Hong Kong councilors.

In contrast, under the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration, Taiwan's police force has treated citizens with double standards, allowing some people to celebrate and parade the PRC's five-star flag while interrupting and then arresting a patriotic demonstrator as he burned the PRC flag. (video: KMT-ROC police suppress a patriot in favor of their enemy). Shame on Taiwan's police!

However, the same day that China was parading a fake "Taiwan float" in its National Day celebration, across the Strait thousands of real Taiwanese were attending screenings of Kadeer's "The 10 Conditions of Love" in 5 major cities across Taiwan. (The "Kaohsiung" link 3 paragraphs above has a preview of "The 10 Conditions of Love.") Many others viewed their beautiful island via a link posted on Michael Turton's blog, The View from Taiwan. Check out the superb quality of Taiwan's High Definition video -- the clearest video I've ever seen on YouTube.

China, already armed with nuclear weapons and continuing to increase its military spending, is also known for its cyber spying all over the globe and its disrespect for intellectual property rights. The potential merger of the world's two richest parties -- the KMT and the CCP -- is the biggest threat to world peace economically as well as militarily since the Chinese government's daily operations need not be subject to the approval of a parliament, and without transparency, they can do anything they want to undermine global security.

Remember also how Beijing blocked WHO assistance to Taiwan for two months during the SARS crisis of 2003? Remember how China spread the avian flu by smuggling chicken? These are the kinds of examples from which the world should have learned a lesson, but it seems that too few people have.

At least one person has jokingly commented:

[...] maybe China owns the Empire State building now, lol. ???

If the Chinese haven't bought it yet, they might just do so in the not-so-distant future. This is what we call economic terrorism!

But, if the world's politicians wake up and support China's true ambassadors -- the human rights activists perishing in Chinese jails -- then maybe soon Chinese and foreigners can together celebrate a responsible Chinese government that poses no threat to world peace.

Stop appeasing to CCP's bullying around the globe, and help Chinese citizens build their dream nation, one that respects the UDHR!

References:
* A March 2009 poll on national identity by pro-unification TVBS:

台灣人或中國人？二選一時，逾七成（７２％）民眾認為自己是台灣人，較去年兩岸復談前增加４個百分點

[Tim Maddog translation:]
Taiwanese or Chinese? Given only these 2 choices, over 7/10 (72%) of respondents identify selves as Taiwanese, an increase of 4 percentage points since last year's cross-strait talks

* A June 2009 poll on national identity by National Chengchi University (NCCU) shows that only 4.3 percent of respondents identify themselves as "Chinese" (as opposed to "Taiwanese" or "both Taiwanese and Chinese").

* Previously on Talk Taiwan: "Growing Taiwanese identity despite KMTs policy of warming relationship with China"

* Rebecca MacKinnon's RConversation has a couple of posts related to this: "China's censorship arms race escalates"; and "China's new real-name requirement: another global trend."

* On Radio Free Asia, read "'New Era' of Controls" and "China Boosts 'Great Firewall'."

* Taipei Times editorial about China's display of weapons: "It's scaring the neighbors"

(Tim Maddog contributed to this post)

Summary of links from June 4th

Today's Chinese students do not know much about their recent history. They have never seen the famous image of the brave Tank Man of Tiananmen (mostly text -- for video clips see the next link below), and I am not surprised that they haven't seen the image.

This situation is similar to that of many Taiwanese students who had never heard of the 228 Massacre until they went abroad in the 70's and 80's.

I have summarized a few informative links with posts related to the events June 4^th, 1989, but written 20 years later.

* Here are six educational video clips about Tiananmen.

* Read about Beijing blocking the media to this very day.

* Take a look at irresponsible business engagement with China and forced labor camps (Insist on buying things produced in your own country whenever you can, and support both the domestic economy and articles 23(3) and 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the same time.)

*See how the richest party in Taiwan blocked an important and symbolic resolution, because obviously both that party and the CCP are anti-democratic kleptocrats.

* Read a scholar's view of another anniversary, and some words from the Australian who also condemned (or praised?) the blue-dominated media for doing a really good job on this issue as he commented:

It is clear the KMT and its cohorts in the media have succeeded in convincing a significant percentage of people in Taiwan that A-bian is an evil monster who doesn't even deserve basic human rights. As a result it is difficult to have a calm and rational conversation about the topic.

Thanks to him, I will not need to write a separate post since I also signed the petition based on the same principles as him. Many Taiwanese are quick to blame the former president for the DPP's poor performance in the last election, and these same people tend to overlook Chen's basic human rights.

* Observe how the government that no one recognizes as having the sovereignty of the land it occupies has no plans on how to carry on with the process of transitional justice, but has every interest in reviving a dead dictator's legacy. It continues to introduce new laws that will be instrumental in abusing the rights of some selected citizens while failing to prosecute others like this one.

(With some editing by Tim Maddog)

P.K. Chiang's visit to Nanjing: Success or failure?

Dueling headlines

Note the headline of a front-page article in today's Taipei Times:

DPP chief slams cross-strait talks as failure

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday that Sunday's round of cross-strait talks were a failure that made concessions on sovereignty but did not help Taiwanese businesses.

Tsai said the failure of the talks was inevitable given President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) "mindset."

She said the Ma government made four mistakes: It made concessions on sovereignty before the talks; it relied too much on China's goodwill and the Chinese economy; it avoided consultation with or supervision from the legislature and opposition parties; and it had no way of ensuring that national security officials and the government's negotiators had no conflict of interest.

Tsai said Ma had made a comment supporting Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) speech marking the 30th anniversary of Beijing's "open letter to Taiwanese compatriots," which highlighted the "one China" principle, and which was a concession on sovereignty.

The government also gave up negotiations on the "fifth freedom of the air," essentially implying that cross-strait flights are domestic flights, she said.

Compare that with the front-page headline of yesterday's China Post


I don't think that "success" means the same thing
to the China Post that it does to others
(Click to enlarge)

SUCCESS IN NANJING

[...]

P.K. Chiang, chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), signed the agreements on financial cooperation, regular flights across the Taiwan Strait, and joint efforts to fight crime with his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin at the former capital of the Republic of China in the afternoon. Chen, chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), spoke before the signing, pledging more foreign direct investment in Taiwan and welcoming Taiwan entrepreneurs to invest in China.

SEF and ARATS are quasi-governmental organizations charged with the conduct of relations between the two sides of the strait.

They met for the third time since President Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated in May of last year, easing the tensions across the strait, while his predecessor Chen Shui-bian carried on his policy of creeping independence for Taiwan.

The China Post, you may notice, does one decent thing by putting P.K. Chiang and Chen Yunlin on equal footing. On the other hand, however, they both ignore the real problems pointed out by Tsai Ing-wen, and they conjure up imaginary ones such as "creeping independence."

Home field advantage
Considering that this took place in the old ROC capital -- on China's turf -- where official Chinese media referred to Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) as "President" of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) while Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤, AKA P.K. Chiang) was called the "Chairman" of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) (hardly on "equal footing"), I'd agree with both headlines. It's "success" for those on China's side but yet another failure for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in their dealings with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Debase? How low can you go?
For the DPP, it's obvious that they wouldn't budge on whatever the status quo was at the time and that they'd never give an inch when it came to Taiwan's sovereignty. However, what I see for the KMT's own "bottom line" is that they have no bottom line.

Fool me once, shame on you. But the shameless KMT will let the CCP fool them as many times as it takes for Taiwan to be annexed.

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Kneel-son ratings: Taiwan, 台灣, Chinese Nationalist Party, 中國國民黨, Kuomintang, KMT, 國民黨, Ma Ying-jeou, 馬英九, Chiang Pin-kung, 江丙坤, P.K. Chiang, Straits Exchange Foundation, 海峽交流基金會, Chen Yunlin, 陳雲林, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, 海峽兩岸關係協會, Chinese Communist Party, 中國共產黨, China Post, 英文中國郵報

Cross-posted at It's Not Democracy, It's A Conspiracy!