Photo:Tai Ji Men dizi (disciples) hold signs in front of the Cannon House Office Building, the oldest congressional office building in Washington, D.C., to seek support to defend human rights and rectify the fabricated Tai Ji Men case.
150,000+ People from 14 Nations Pay Attention to the Tai Ji Men Case in Taiwan
December 24,2021
On December 19, 2021, sixteen organizations, including the Tax and Legal Reform League and Taiwan Association for Financial Criminal Law Study, co-hosted the “Wake Up to Rescue Human Rights” event, including a march and a rally in front of Taiwan’s Presidential Office Building. This day marked the 25th anniversary of the Tai Ji Men 1219 incident, and over 150,000 people from 14 nations participated in the event in person or online. It shows that many people want the Taiwanese government to defend taxpayer rights and human rights while also implementing transitional justice, and that the rectification of the fabricated Tai Ji Men case will be an important milestone in the realization of human rights in Taiwan.
A film about Tai Ji Men members' recent trip to Washington, D.C. was shown at the rally. Nearly 60 representatives of Tai Ji Men dizi (disciples) from around the world gathered in the world’s political capital from December 5 to 7 in near-freezing weather to speak out against the fabricated and unjust Tai Ji Men case, protesting the Taiwanese government's disregard for this case of violations of human rights and religious freedom. They also denounced the Taiwanese government’s connivance with a small number of rogue officials who have been persecuting Tai Ji Men through criminal and tax measures for 25 years, smearing this spiritual organization. Last year, the government even forcibly auctioned and nationalized Tai Ji Men’s sacred land intended for a self-cultivation center.
The Tai Ji Men case began in 1996 when prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen carried out a political purge in the name of a religious crackdown. After three criminal trials spanning 10 years and 3 months, in 2007, Taiwan’s Supreme Court found Tai Ji Men not guilty of tax evasion or any other charges, but the National Taxation Bureau ignored the court decision and continued to use the untrue indictment as the basis for illegal taxation and even forcefully auctioned Tai Ji Men’s sacred land based on the unjustified tax bill. As a result, this unjust case has lasted for 25 years.
Representatives of Tai Ji Men dizi demonstrated in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, White House, and National Christmas Tree, demanding that the Taiwanese government follow the law, return Tai Ji Men's sacred land, and protect the people's human rights and freedom of religion or belief! Many visitors expressed their support for Tai Ji Men, and some even joined the protest by holding signs in support of universal human rights values and religious freedom.
Representatives of Tai Ji Men dizi protested in front of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States for the fourth time this year, hoping that Representative Hsiao, Taiwan's representative to the United States, would help them convey their message to the Taiwanese government to quickly resolve the case; however, no one came out to meet with the protesters during their two-and-a-half-hour demonstration! Jessica, the representative of Tai Ji Men dizi in Canada, lamented, "The Taiwanese government cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes! Tai Ji Men has conducted so much good citizen diplomacy for Taiwan. We have brought Taiwan’s culture to the world and let the world see Taiwan, but what we see today is that Taiwan's democracy is backsliding, and this pains every one of us! For the past 25 years, we've been dealing with emotional wounds and trauma. We hope that President Tsai and all government officials will not close their ears, but rather open their eyes and try to comprehend the magnitude of the injustice we have endured, and that they will stop replying to us in a perfunctory manner! We don't require much. We simply want justice and righteousness, and we want our children to be able to proudly proclaim that they are Taiwanese!"
The first international press conference on the Tai Ji Men case was held in Washington, D.C. on December 7, for the first time in its 55-year history, to reveal the truth about the fabricated Tai Ji Men case, seek international support, and call on the Taiwanese government to implement transitional justice. Prof. Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist, founder of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) and the editor-in-chief of Bitter Winter magazine, said that if some officials in Taiwan think that the Tai Ji Men case will just disappear, they are completely wrong. “Nobody's giving up here,” said Prof. Introvigne, “On the contrary, we will gather more people and more scholars and more friends of human rights.” Like a snowball that grows bigger and bigger, it is impossible for this issue to just go away, and all of the power comes from the heart, from love, he added. Achieving transitional justice is one of President Tsai Ing-wen's major election promises. As the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan pointed out in his 2004 report to the Security Council, there are four different aspects of transitional justice: promoting truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence. The Tai Ji Men case demonstrates one thing: Taiwan should adopt all four pillars of transitional justice!