{"id":202545,"date":"2017-09-12T23:58:10","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T06:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=202545"},"modified":"2017-09-14T23:46:18","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T06:46:18","slug":"taiwanese-activist-lee-ming-che-stands-trial-stage-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2017\/09\/taiwanese-activist-lee-ming-che-stands-trial-stage-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwanese Activist Stands Trial in “Stage Drama”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taiwanese activist and NGO worker Lee Ming-che was tried for subversion on Monday<\/strong><\/a>, five and a half months after he disappeared while entering China via Macau<\/a>. Following a pattern seen in some other recent sensitive trials<\/a>, Lee confessed to the charges, expressed contrition, blamed his errors on hostile foreign forces<\/a>, and praised the fairness of the proceedings against him. From Xinhua:<\/p>\n

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During the open trial, Peng Yuhua, a suspect from the Chinese mainland, faced the same charge.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors accused Peng of roping in dozens of people, including Lee, to establish an organization aimed at subverting state power and overturning the country’s fundamental political system, which is enshrined in the Constitution, through instant messaging services.<\/p>\n

The two suspects asked members of the organization to exaggerate a number of sensitive issues and make defamatory statements about the Chinese government and its political system, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n

They attempted to overturn state power and the socialist system through unscrupulous distortion of the facts and by fanning public hostility against the government and its system, it said.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said that their activities had seriously harmed national security and social stability.<\/p>\n

Lee and Peng said their rights had been fully protected during the investigation, and they both pleaded guilty and expressed remorse.<\/p>\n

"I regarded biased and malicious reports about the Chinese mainland by media in the West and Taiwan as reality, and had no clear knowledge of the mainland’s development," Lee said in the final statement. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Other accounts noted Lee’s claim to have seen the error of his former ways after learning the truth from local TV programs<\/a> while in detention, and his expression of gratitude for the "civilized" conduct of his prosecution. The Wall Street Journal highlighted his statement that "people on both sides [of the Taiwan Strait] are descendants of the yellow emperor and part of the Chinese civilization<\/a>. We should give up biased Western views in order to learn about mainland China."<\/p>\n

In a statement on Facebook, Lee’s wife Lee Ching-yu urged people not to take his statements at face value<\/strong><\/a>. She referred to the trial, which she had traveled to China to attend<\/a>, as a "political conference" and a "stage drama"\u2014the latter echoing comments by Jin Bianling, the wife of activist and former rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, that his recent trial was "choreographed."<\/a> As Richard Bernstein described at The New York Review of Books last month, Lee Ching-yu is a historical researcher focused on the "White Terror" in pre-democratic Taiwan<\/a>. Lee alludes to this at the beginning of her statement.<\/p>\n

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Impressions on participating in the "political conference of the Great People’s Republic of China"<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a very large difference between conducting historical research and gaining first-hand experience of the stage drama of actual political persecution.<\/p>\n

I was still shaking from this lesson for several hours afterwards.<\/p>\n

After the political conference, I was allowed to see Ming-che in full view of the media, police, and public. He "ordered" me: "After you return to Taiwan, don’t speak out anymore." But his hand tightened on mine as he said this, and he winked.<\/p>\n

As much as it hurt, I could not let myself be deceived.<\/p>\n

After more than twenty years of shared love, I knew the meaning behind his words. He also told me that from now on, I no longer need to pay rent for his mother.<\/p>\n

Those who’ve lost their freedom have the prerogative of speaking insincerely, but I’m free, and have no such privilege. I must continue to safeguard Lee Ming-che’s honor.<\/p>\n

Today, the world and I witnessed this political conference. We also beheld the difference between the core beliefs and principles of Taiwan and China, about which I need hardly say any more.<\/p>\n

It just pains me deeply that this political performance has so nakedly demonstrated one thing: what’s normal speech in Taiwan amounts to armed rebellion in China.<\/p>\n

Neither the Taiwanese people nor the rest of the civilized world can accept this.<\/p>\n

Let me reiterate the prediction I made before I left for China:<\/p>\n

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"Compatriots, please, if Lee Ming-che says or does anything unbearable in court, not of his own free will, it’s nothing more than the Chinese government’s customary game of forced confession."<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Thank you all. I’m exhausted. Thank you all.<\/p>\n

PS: The tattoos on my arms were inspired by a noble Chinese man who lived a thousand years ago, the Song general Yue Fei. He served his country with unreserved loyalty: I will do the same for Lee Ming-che’s honor. [Chinese<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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"Lee Ming-cheh, you are my pride"
Lee Ching-yu displays new tattoos at an improvised presser at her hotel in Yueyang. (Via I-min Hsiao) pic.twitter.com\/VTvPz70A8W<\/a><\/p>\n

— Chris Horton \u4f55\u8cb4\u68ee (@heguisen) September 11, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n