Tibetans and Taiwanese come together to protest against the crimes against humanity by the Chinese government and their leader Hu Jintao who is visiting the United States
Articles by Howard G. Fass and Chia Chun Chung Photos by Howard G. Fass, Chia Chun Chung and Ngawang Jorden
January 19, 2011
By Chia Chun Chung:
Today President Obama hosts Hu Jintao at the White House and the two leaders discuss various issues that put the two nations at odds.To bring attention to the fact that China continues to oppress human rights and freedom within and outside of its borders, many activist groups mobilized to protest Hu's US visit.
In Boston, members of Tibetan American and Taiwanese American communities came together and held a special vigil in Harvard Square.Our Tibetan friends have held the vigil in the square week after week for years. It was an honor to join such a dedicated group in a show of support for the universal values of peace, democracy, freedom, and human rights.At 6pm, the scheduled start time, people started to gather, carrying signs and flags. Although the rain and snow kept falling, behind our hats, scarves, and heavy jackets, we saw common beliefs in each other's eyes on faces old and new.Some drivers honked in support, some gave us thumbs up, and many pedestrians stopped to take in our signs and listen to the speeches that were being made.
The Taiwanese American community, represented by Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), issued five demands to Hu and the Chinese Communist Party:
1. Respect Taiwanese freedom and democracy; 2. Recognize the right of the Taiwanese people to self-determination; 3. Dismantle the 1,600 missiles and threatening weaponry pointed at Taiwan; 4. End Taiwan's international political isolation, particularly to international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization; 5. End Chinese economic and political manipulation of Taiwan.
Many worry that democracy and human rights are deteriorating in Taiwan, due to excessively China-friendly policies instituted by the Ma Administration.With this in mind, I found the vigil to be especially poignant. Standing under the dim lights in the rain with a sign in hand, listening to prayers by our Tibetan friends who have collectively lost so much under the CCP regime, the scene gave a foreboding glimpse of what could happen to Taiwan if we remain passive and just let history take its course.On behalf of those who cannot speak out, we must continue to reach out and speak up to protect values that apply to every human being, those of peace, justice, and freedom.
We will press on...
----- By Howard G. Fass
The most serious political threat mankind faces in this new century, is not international terrorism as constantly defined by the US, but the totalitarian expansion of the Chinese Communist regime worldwide and its complete and total disregard for human rights and freedom where-ever its dark influence extends.
Never before, in the history of mankind has a brutal regime such the CCP held so much control and inflicted so much harm on so many.
Since the founding of the CCP, this regime has been responsible for the murder of some 80-million people (mostly Han Chinese), the irreparable destruction of traditional Chinese culture, religion and values, the destruction of the Manchu language and the near total extinction of Tibetan culture and religion in its homeland and on and on. The China of today has become a graveyard of conquered nations and peoples to the sorrowful blood-red flag of the Chinese communist ideology as interpreted by Mao Tsetung. From forced-abortions of Uyghur women to involuntary organ-harvesting from imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners, there is no mercy shown to anyone who dares to be anything separate in any way from the CCP and its total demands.
Rather than responsibly change and reform as is often said to the Western world by the Chinese government media sources and their greedy global-corporate co-conspirators, the CCP regime has consistently resisted all calls for freedom and human rights by its own people and the world. From the 2008 Olympics to the 1989 Tiananman Square massacre, this regime has shown the world that it will do what it likes to whom it likes regardless of the body-count and savagery.
And who is this Hu Jintao, the current Chinese leader visiting the USA, with regards to all of this? When the tanks were rolling in Tiananmen Square back in 1989 crushing the bodies of Chinese students in Beijing, Hu Jintao was the ruling Chinese commissar in occupied Tibet. Under his direct command, Tibetan nuns and monks were mercilessly persecuted and tortured. Tibetan civilians were murdered and imprisoned for peacefully protesting China's continued occupation and theft inside Tibet. Tibetan civilians were also imprisoned and tortured for their continued undying love and admiration for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Even having a small photo of His Holiness and being caught with this by the Chinese authorities could lead to torture and a long imprisonment. This was back in 1989 and things have only gotten worse now.
Rather than stand appart from the CCP's abuses, Hu Jintao has been an active leading participant and has a lot of blood on his hands. When the party was at the brink back in 1989, it was brutal leaders such as Hu that saved the regime by crushing anything that stood in its way.
Lest this all be forgotten and dismissed by the 23-million Taiwanese people who stand to lose EVERYTHING, should China and their KMT puppets have their way and the beautiful island nation of Taiwan become absorbed by the Chinese empire. Taiwanese should take full stock of current affairs and history and demand their own freedom and self-determination. China should respect the legitimate wishes of the Taiwanese people and renounce its imperialistic demands on Taiwan and elsewhere and live in peace with its neighbors.
We call upon the nations of the world, especially the United States to finally wake up and see communist China for what it is!
By continuing to shamelessly appease and co-opt this brutal regime, we help keep in power a brutal force that visits untold sufferings upon its own Chinese people and those held captive by its military police power. If this what the rising China is all about, we should shutter to think what a world led by such a brute would come to be...
Perhaps things are finally slowly starting to change as can be seen from the following recent sharp quotes by US politicians in Washington DC during Hu's 2011 visit:
Representative Christopher Smith, a Republican who on Tuesday held his own conference on Chinese human rights abuses, said: "Who is Hu Jintao? In 1989, just a few months before the massacre in Tiananmen Square, Hu was Beijing's iron fist in Tibet."
"This was the man who ordered the savage beating of Tibetan nuns and even children were pummeled to death. He presides over a gulag state, clearly a dictatorship. He has been directly responsible for the systematic detention and torture of millions of Chinese,"
Smith said. "Cattle prods are put into prisoners' armpits and at their genitals." "I believe Hu ought to be at The Hague being made to account for his crimes rather than being treated with a state dinner," said Smith.
"We should not be welcoming the world's worst human rights abuser to our White House. It is wrong. We should not be granting respect to this monstrous regime," Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, added.
Sering-La blesses us all with his wonderful prayers! OM TARE TUTARE TURE SOHA
Thank you to everyone who came out into the winter's cold to support and be a part of this vigil.
It was a great success! Together we can speak out for freedom and human rights. No action is too small... We must be the change we want to see in the world and hold our leaders accountable ...
