Presentation at the 24 March webinar “The UN Day of the Right to Truth on Human Rights Violations: The Tai Ji Men Case in Comparative Perspective” (Excerpts)

 

Rebecca Wang, Assistant System Coordinator, Technology Company

 

“It’s been more than two years since I graduated from college, and now I’m working in the technology industry. I am a Tai Ji Men dizi as well. My father took me to Tai Ji Men when I was one year old. All of my family practice qigong with our shifu, Dr. Hong Tao Tze.”

 

“I was one-year-old when the Tai Ji Men fake case happened. It was not until I grew up that I realized how much pressure and discrimination were against us. Some of the people were mocked by their teachers and classmates at school; some were roared by pedestrians when going for a dinner; some even lost their jobs, who were the breadwinners in the family. Nonetheless, our shifu still told us to love this country and to insist on doing the right things. We are so willing to pay the tax but only the tax that should be paid. On the other hand, we could not pay the tax that shouldn’t be paid.”

 

“Nylon Cheng, who promoted democracy and freedom of speech in Taiwan, once said: ‘Ignoring the suffering from the underprivileged is the persecution of human rights.’ In the past 25 years, we never retreated. With the insistence of the truth, we hope to encourage those victims whose human rights are violated.”

 

 

Samuel Kuo, Senior Project Manager, AMA Project

 

“I am a dizi for the Tai Ji Men qigong academy, where I practice the highest level of qigong and martial arts.”

 

“Governments should conduct administration pursuant to the law. They should be fair, and just, and rule without wrongful punishment of the people. Furthermore, Government officials are expected to carry out their civil service duties without corruption, power abuse and violations. This is the spirit of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as formally defined in the ICCPR and ICESCR. ICCPR also known as The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which was implemented in force from 23 March 1976, exactly 45 years ago, the day before today! The Tai Ji Men Tax Case is a flagrant disrespect of the law!”