A Letter to the Students in the Freedom Plaza…

“No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.", Eleanor Roosevelt

Students of Taiwan,

I admire your courage and determination as you peacefully object to the recent
suppression of your civil liberties. I believe the people of a democracy have a sacred
responsibility to be vigilant, and to act courageously when their freedom of expression
is threatened. You have an opportunity to make history by showing the entire world
how you respond when your freedom of expression and right peacefully to assemble
are unfairly denied.

I have been visiting Hong Kong since the 1960s. I was a visiting professor at Hong
Kong University for a year and a half recently. I have followed the slow but steady
erosion of freedom of expression in Hong Kong in the last decade. Talk show hosts who
were outspoken were removed. The majority of Hong Kong newspaper reporters say
they are censored, or censor themselves. The citizens of Hong Kong are not allowed to
vote for a President, and the “Chief Executive” of Hong Kong reports to the Central
People’s Government in Beijing. Of course the handover of Hong Kong to China was
unavoidable, because the 99 year lease to England had expired.

I must admit to you -- I worry that events are slowly leading Taiwan in the same
direction as Hong Kong, for different reasons and by different political processes. But I
believe you have in your hands the power to influence the direction of your government
through peaceful protest.

Visiting professor of NTU

Arthur Woodward