Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/12
By: Chai Sze-chia and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 12 (CNA) Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chen Ming-

tong (陳明通) on Thursday called on China to release Taiwanese democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) and other detained Chinese dissidents so that it can advance human rights protection and improve cross-Taiwan Strait relations.

Chen said that protecting human rights and treating human right activists and dissidents well are the necessary ways to bridge the psychological distance between the two sides of the strait.

Chen made the comments after China on Wednesday sentenced Qin Yongmin (秦永敏), a veteran pro-democracy campaigner, to 13 years in prison for “subversion of state power.”

Qin, 64, the founder of a pro-democracy group called China Human Rights Watch, has already spent 23 years behind bars, making him one of the longest jailed political prisoners during the last four decades.
[FULL  STORY]