2005.03.08
20 Legislators in Taiwan Co-Sign Call for Release of Wang Bingzhang
China Times Reporter, Chenchen Lee, Taipei:
Yesterday at the Legislative Yuan, a number of international and Taiwan based human rights organizations held a press conference, calling on mainland China to speedily release Chinese democracy activist Wang Bingzhang. Nearly twenty legislators representing all of Taiwan’s political parties co-sponsored the resolution, asking the Legislative Yuan to pass the measure, so that Taiwan could do her part in rescuing Wang Bingzhang.
Wang Bingzhang is pre-eminent as a mainland democracy activist, having organized China Spring magazine among mainland students studying abroad in 1982 and the Chinese Justice and Democracy Party, calling for political democratization, freedom of speech and for a free press. In 2002, he was kidnapped in Vietnam, and after a court proceeding held in secret in 2003, was sentenced to life imprisonment for “espionage”.
In order to rescue Wang Bingzhang, worldwide non-stop efforts have been engaged in by the US based World Rights organization’s Executive Director Timothy Cooper, who held high a banner with the photo of Wang Bingzhang and demanded that China, “Release Wang Bingzhang!”. He remarked that China listens to Taiwan, and knows that Taiwan is concerned about human rights, and since Taiwan is willing to raise her voice, this is of utmost importance in the work to rescue Wang Bingzhang. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Joshui stated, on Taiwan’s road to achieving democracy, the assistance of various international human rights organizations was essential, when dealing with authoritarian regimes, international support provides unlimited inspiration and instills confidence among democracy activists, and with human rights constituting universal values, one would hope that all 1.3 billion Chinese would also enjoy these shared values.
People’s First Party Legislator Dr. Kao Su-Po noted, one of the “crimes” for which Wang Bingzhang was charged was “collecting intelligence for Taiwan’s intelligence agencies”, hence it was all the more the duty of Taiwan to extend her hands in rescue efforts. He said, former President Clinton once stated, “ to embrace the hands of those with whom we do not share the same political ideas, is a beautiful thing”, in the hope that mainland China would express openness and transparency in the political arena, and quickly release Wang Bingzhang.
Yesterday’s press conference was jointly organized by Worldrights and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, along with representatives participating on behalf of the China Association for Human Rights, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, (the Taiwan Thinktank. Among Legislators co-sponsoring the measure were the KMT’s Wu Chihyang, and the DPP’s Hsiao Bikhim, Chiu Chuangchin, and Chen Chunghsin, among others.