Taipei, Feb. 25 (CNA) The people and government of Taiwan should offer more support for the "Chinese jasmine revolution" because democracy and human rights are universal values and a democratic China will serve Taiwan's interests, rights advocates said Friday.
Several human rights advocates held a press conference in Taipei to comment on the rumblings of revolution that have surfaced on Chinese websites over the last week.
A Boxun.com blog post on Feb. 17 called on Chinese people to gather at 2 p.m. on Feb. 19 in 13 Chinese cities to protest for "food, jobs, living space, and fairness and justice." The movement, described as the "Chinese jasmine revolution, " ended with arrests of protesters and a wave of Internet censorship.
The Taiwanese rights advocates said that people of Taiwan -- independence supporters and unification supporters alike -- should support China's democratic movement and the government should lead the charge.
Yang Hsien-hung, President of the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights (TACHR) , urged the Taiwan government to actively voice its opinions on human rights and democracy and make clear that it will not hold any political dialogue unless China addresses these issues.
"President Ma Ying-jeou, as a head of state, should have the courage to single out China's human rights problems, " Yang said.
Ruan Ming, a former Chinese Communist scholar who now has Taiwanese citizenship, said that "China and other authoritative regimes are witnessing a new era of political movements driven by the youth, who present their ideology with a new strategy -- the Internet."
The political movement that has swept through Africa and the Middle East is destined to arrive in China eventually, he said, adding that even though the number of people answering the call this past week may be small, "the Chinese government is obviously nervous."
John C.F. Wei, a human rights attorney, urged the Chinese government to initiate dialogue with dissidents and called on Taiwanese people to pay attention and support human rights and peaceful democratic movements in China.
"A collapsed China is not necessarily a good thing for Taiwan, " he said, alluding to the economic consequences for Taiwan if China became unstable.
Chang Tieh-chih, a well-known blogger, warned that Taiwan knew too little about China, especially its "dark side, " despite warming cross-strait ties. The crackdown on dissidents and the censorship of Internet search engines and web forums showed that "China might be powerful on the outside, but is, in fact, fragile on the inside."
"No one can predict when a revolution will happen, " said Chang. "However, the social situation in China has reached a boiling point and the Chinese people are now more courageous than ever in voicing their opinions."
Posts circulating on the Internet have hinted that there could be a second wave of protests in China on Sunday, Feb. 27. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ly