Taipei - Taiwan's opposition party and civic groups condemned China's bloody suppression of the riots in Xinjiang Tuesday, warning the same could happen in Taiwan once Beijing gains control over the island. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) issued a statement condemning China's crackdown which has left at least 156 dead, more than 1,000 injured and more than 1,000 arrested.
"This is the repeat of the June 4 Tiananmen Massacre in 1989 and reveals China's true colors. If President Ma Ying-jeou leads Taiwan to unification with China, such bloody suppression could happen in Taiwan," DPP lawmaker Tsai Tong-jong said.
Tsai said China's recent arrest of dissident Liu Xiaobo, its plan to introduce internet-filtering software and the suppression of Uigurs proves China has not improved its human rights.
"President Ma should not remain silent. He must issue a statement denouncing the suppression in Xinjiang," DPP's acting spokesman Chuang Shuo-han said.
But Ma does not plan to issue any statement. "It should be handled by the Mainland Affairs Council," presidential spokesman Wang Yu-chi said.
Taiwan's pro-Tibet organization, Friends of Tibet, issued a statement in support of the minority Uighur in western China.
Though different in each case, China has launched a campaign to crash the separatist forces in Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang to prevent hem from seeking independence.
"For a long time, China has been suppressing and exploiting people who are not Han, the largest ethnic group in China, pushing their cultures to the edge of extinction. The riot in Xinjiang is the tip of the iceberg," it said.
The group demanded China respect minority ethnic groups' ways of life and abandon Beijing's colonialists' thinking.
Wu'er Kaixi, one of the student leaders in the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing, also condemned China's handling of the riots in Xinjiang.
Wu'er Kaixi is a Uighur but grew up in Beijing. He fled to France after the Tiananmen Massacre, married a Taiwanese student while studying in the US and has settled down in Taiwan.
"Some Taiwanese, after having visited China and met with Chinese leaders a few times, came back thinking they understand China. They praise China's reforms and improvement in human rights. China's suppression of the riots in Xinjiang should wake them up," he said on cable TV channel FTV.
