April 4-10, 2011
General Assembly News
Exiled Chinese writer says PCT’s role vital in creating a new Taiwan
Reported by Chiou Kuo-rong
Written by Lydia Ma
Is there any hope still for Taiwan to become a de jure and de facto independent and sovereign country? According to former Peking University law professor Dr. Yuan Hongbing who currently lives in exile in Australia, there is always hope as long as Taiwanese people are willing to fight for this goal and PCT continues to support it.
Yuan believes Taiwan’s hope of becoming a new and independent country rests on two factors: The rise of valiant and revolutionary people willing to lead the way and a motivational or faith-inspired group of people to partner alongside. He believes PCT fits the bill perfectly for the second criteria because of its record and involvement in Taiwan’s democratic movements in the past.
PCT Church and Society Committee recently invited Yuan to tour Taiwan, which he accepted, and he is now scheduled to host a series of speeches across the country. His first stop was in Taipei at Justice Action Presbyterian Church in Taipei on April 3, 2011, where he spoke inside Taipei 228 Memorial Park.
Yuan was born in Inner Mongolia and took part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests. He was a law professor at the time and was a member of the liberal faction of law scholars. He was also a member of a faculty organization within Peking University that supported student protesters. His views soon made him a target for arrest, but he managed to use his knowledge of international law to his advantage and sought asylum in Australia. He currently resides in Australia as a freelance writer and an editor-in-chief.
Though not yet a Christian, Yuan said he knows much about Jesus and admires Jesus’ sacrifice for humanity. He further elaborated that PCT’s efforts during the White Terror days and its statements in the 1970s, especially “A Declaration of Human Rights by PCT” where drafters of the declaration also wrote their wills and prepared for the worst, were proofs that PCT members were ready to offer their lives for their country’s freedom, autonomy, and independence and to partner with God in advancing justice and righteousness.
