Video shows Taiwanese Harvard student protest against Chinese ambassador
影片顯示台灣哈佛學生抗議中國大使
| 4 Taiwanese and Tibetan students protest during Xie Feng's speech at Harvard Kennedy School
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese and Tibetan students on Saturday (April 20) protested against China's U.S. ambassador during a Harvard University speech. During the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024, Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng (謝峰) gave a speech entitled “Chinese Modernization, a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind, and China-U.S. Relations." Students from the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP and Students for a Free Tibet protested four times during his speech, delaying it for 45 minutes, per CNA. A female Taiwanese American surnamed Wu (吳) enrolled at Harvard told CNA that, including herself, two Taiwanese American and two Tibetan students criticized China for depriving Hong Kong of democratic freedoms, committing genocide against Tibetans and Uyghurs, and using aggressive tactics against Taiwan, and said Xie was unqualified to speak at the university. In a video posted to X by Students for a Free Tibet, Wu held up a sign that read “China lies.” She shouted, “Xie Feng, you come to paint your delusion of a ‘prosperous China’ when your hands are painted with blood. You robbed the Hong Kongers of fundamental freedoms and devastated their democracy. Now in my country, Taiwan, you seek to do the same.” Before Wu could finish her protest, a man in a suit grabbed Wu by the arm and pulled her away from the venue, and a security guard later came to assist the man. As she was forced from the room, she shouted “China lies!” A female Tibetan student then stood up with a sign that read “People Die.” The woman shouted, “China lies, people die. Eighty percent of Tibetan children are forced into larger colonial-style boarding schools which are aimed at destroying my Tibetan people’s existence. Shame on Xie Feng. Free Tibet. Free East Turkestan. You have blood on your hands. Guilty of genocide. Shame on Xie Feng.” A security guard approached the woman and led her away from the scene. In a second Students for a Free Tibet video, a male Tibetan student identified as Topjor held up the Tibetan flag and shouted, "Free Tibet. How can you be here when the Chinese government is in direct contravention of every human rights law in the world? You are a representative of a government that advocates for genocide. The genocide of the Tibetan people, of the Uyghur people, the occupation of Hong Kong. You are a travesty. You do not deserve to be here. This is a free country. You cannot project your transnational repression in this country, in this continent. You are a shame, a stain on this institution. Shame on you Xie Feng. Shame on China.” A security guard also led Topjor away. At the end of the video, an event spokesperson said, “Let me just remind everyone that the reason we have this forum is to encourage discussion, fruitful discussion where people can actually exchange ideas. And I want to remind everyone again that anyone who disrupts this event will be subject to disciplinary action." Wu, who is the co-chair of the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP, said to CNA that in 2019, Hong Kong's protests against China's tightening control were suppressed by Beijing. The following year, China implemented the National Security Law in Hong Kong. Xie was then the special envoy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stationed in Hong Kong, directly responsible for supervising the Chinese Communist Party's repressive policies in Hong Kong, which undermined Hong Kong's democracy, said Wu. Wu said that, like many Taiwanese, she is deeply concerned about how China is undermining Hong Kong's free society because Beijing could potentially do the same to Taiwan. Xie had previously made threatening remarks toward Taiwan after Nancy Pelosi's visit to the country and, “As a Taiwanese, I have an obligation to speak out,” said Wu. Wu said that she opposes Xie speaking at Harvard. "We cannot allow someone who represents the Chinese Communist Party, defends a government that perpetrates genocide, and personally deprives Hong Kong of freedom to come to our campus because this goes against our values, and the values of Harvard, entirely. His propaganda has no place at Harvard." |
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| Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer | |
| 2024-04-22 |
