As we celebrated Women’s Day yesterday, we must never forget the history of this day. On this day in 1956, Amina Kachalia, Lilian Ngoi, Helen Joseph and Ray Simons led a protest, fighting for human rights, equality and dignity for women. We admire their courage and perseverance for the causes they have dedicated their lives to. Just one week before Women’s Day this year, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker in US history, led a delegation from the US Congress to visit Taiwan. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, the first woman…
As we celebrated Women’s Day yesterday, we must never forget the history of this day.
On this day in 1956, Amina Kachalia, Lilian Ngoi, Helen Joseph and Ray Simons led a protest, fighting for human rights, equality and dignity for women. We admire their courage and perseverance for the causes they have dedicated their lives to.
Just one week before Women’s Day this year, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker in US history, led a delegation from the US Congress to visit Taiwan. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female president and the first female head of state in Mandarin-speaking countries, received Speaker Pelosi delegation.
They exchanged views on issues of freedom, democracy and human rights. The meeting of the two distinguished women leaders, however, was not well received by the People’s Republic of China, as it unilaterally declared that the visit and meeting violated China’s policy.
READ ALSO: China is conducting military exercises across Taiwan
China has conducted a series of military exercises in the air and sea around the Taiwan Strait since Pelosi’s departure from Taiwan.
Several batches of aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, and the PRC fired several missiles into areas surrounding Taiwan’s territorial waters, invading Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, causing many civilian flights to and from the island to be cancelled. or distracted.
Taiwan’s government will never provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait and will never back down from China’s military pressure. As the 21st largest economy in the world, it shares the values ​​of democracy, freedom and human rights with South Africa and many like-minded countries.
The people of Taiwan are making efforts to preserve their way of life, a life with guaranteed freedoms and human rights under a democratically elected government. This is the same aspiration that Madiba fought for throughout his life.
And surely this is the same aspiration that 20,000 South African women wanted to achieve when they decided to march on the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956. Chung-Yi Ho is the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa.
