An international webinar insisted on the indissoluble link between peace and justice and on how this principle was violated in the case of Tai Ji Men.
by Daniela Bovolenta
An article already published in Bitter Winter on May 2nd, 2024.
On April 24, 2024, United Nations International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace, CESNUR and Human Rights Without Frontiers organized one of their regular webinars on the Tai Ji Men case. The chosen title was, “No Peace Without Justice: A New Look at the Tai Ji Men Case.”
Alessandro Amicarelli, a London-based human rights attorney, and the President of the European Federation for Freedom of Belief (FOB) introduced the webinar and the first video. The video presented the public hearing of June 17, 2010, at Taiwan’s Parliament, the Legislative Yuan, where the Ministry of Finance and the National Taxation Bureau of the Central Area promised that the Tai Ji Men case, which was gathering attention among politicians, would be solved within two months. This, as those familiar with the case know, never happened, and the fight continued.
Amicarelli then introduced the speakers of the webinar. Massimo Introvigne, the editor-in-chief of “Bitter Winter” and the Managing Director of CESNUR, observed that every year multiculturalism and diplomacy for peace are discussed in the speech that the Pope gives in January to the ambassadors of the countries that maintain diplomatic relations to the Vatican (including Taiwan), presenting them his wishes for the new year. In the 2024 speech to the diplomats, Introvigne noted, the Pope stated that war is the worst denial of peace but there is also no peace where, although no wars are fought, human rights, including freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), are not respected. Pope Francis listed among the attacks against FoRB the “subtle” financial means of discrimination and media slander.
These warnings, Introvigne concluded, resonate in the Tai Ji Men case, where the “subtle financial means” of fabricated tax bills, accompanied by a slanderous media campaign, were used to attack an innocent spiritual movement. Taiwan today is a perfect example of the Biblical motto “Peace is the work of justice,” Introvigne said, which also implies that without restoring justice to Tai Ji Men there can be no peace.
Davide Suleyman Amore, an Italian historian of religions and the secretary of the “As-Salàm” Islamic Cultural Association, presented a reflection on the relationship between justice and peace in Islamic thought. Prophet Muhammad, he said, taught that one cannot be a good Muslim without upholding justice in all human relations. Later, the great Islamic philosopher Ibn Khaldun, who died in 1406, in his seminal work “Muqaddimah,” explained that without justice social cohesion is compromised, and discord and war follow. The Tai Ji Men case, Amore said, can be studied by applying these Islamic principles. They show that the injustice vested on Tai Ji Men created a wound in Taiwan’s social harmony and cohesion, which can only be healed by a prompt and just solution of the case.
Amicarelli then introduced a video of the “Conscience Story Series,” featuring the disappearance of plotted plants placed to enhance road safety by a conscientious citizen who had learned wisdom principles at a Tai ji Men Qigong Academy. The Tai Ji Men dizi (disciple) decided to place an announcement on the roadside wall with an appeal to the conscience of the thief. Although neighbors were skeptical, in the end conscience prevailed and the pots were returned.
The second session, also introduced by Amicarelli, featured the testimonies of five dizi. Kenny Cheng, Regional Director in a global chemical company, reminded the audience that the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace became a United Nations day of observance in December 2018, following the October 31, 2018, High-Level Dialogue to Reaffirm Commitment to Multilateralism. It was first celebrated in 2019, and continues to be honored every year, although wars and conflicts demonstrate that putting its elevated principles into practice is difficult. As a Tai Ji Men dizi, Cheng said, he understands that prioritizing conscience is the key to honest and genuine multilateralism, something he has also experienced daily, on a smaller scale, in his thirty years of work for a global chemical company.
Martie Wei, who works as Sales Director for the whole Asia Pacific region for a large company, reported about the difficult problems she faced because of the parallel imports’ phenomenon, and how she helped solving them by applying a version of “multilateralism” and search for a broad consensus. She also relied on the primacy of conscience, a principle she learned as a Tai Ji Men dizi and found sometimes difficult to affirm in the modern world of competitive capitalism. She remains persuaded, she said, that our society needs a global awakening of conscience, and the work of Tai Ji Men and its Shifu is even more crucial in our present crisis-ridden world.
Oscar Chou, a salesperson, said that multiculturalism is about creating unity among different international and domestic social actors. To achieve unity, as he learned by accompanying Tai Ji Men’s Shifu (Grand Master), Dr. Hong Tao-Tze, to events in India and Türkiye, conscience and love are needed. These two key features of a genuine and wholesome human experience, Chou said, cannot be affirmed without two other values, justice and righteousness. It is because the latter were denied to them that the Tai Ji Men dizi started and continue their protest, Cheng said, hoping that love and conscience will one day prevail also among Taiwanese politicians and bureaucrats.
Winnie Lu, a counseling teacher, reported about her difficult work of offering psychological support to school pupils and their parents. It is, she said, a microcosm version of multilateralism, since the positions of different parties—principals, teachers, pupils, families—should be taken into account and reconciled. The practice of Qigong and meditation she learned as a Tai Ji Men dizi, Lu said, greatly helped her work. Having personally experienced its benefits, she finds it paradoxical that Tai Ji Men’s good work continues to find obstacles in tax harassment, Lu concluded, expressing the hope that this injustice can be brought to an end.
Sherry Chen, a graduate student, discussed the global outreach of Tai Ji Men through its cultural performances and the invitation to world leaders to ring the Bell of World Peace and Love, based on her own experience at the Parliament of World’s Religions held in Chicago in 2023. She explained that Tai Ji Men dizi do not simply propose beautiful performances. They include “prayers to the heavens” and deep spiritual experiences capable of awakening the consciences and transforming the world. She expressed the hope that this global return to conscience may also have effects in Taiwan and lead to a solution of the Tai Ji Men case.
Willy Fautré, co-founder and Director of Human Rights Without Frontiers, thanked the dizi for their moving testimonies and stated that centuries of discussions about peace have led to a widespread agreement that governments ostensibly offering peace but plagued by injustice in fact just sow the seeds of future conflicts and wars. The question remains, Fautré said, how justice can be effectively promoted. The Tai Ji Men case shows that, despite the bravery and passion of the dizi, sometimes domestic efforts alone cannot succeed. Fautré noted the results achieved by an international campaign promoting awareness of the Tai Ji Men case conducted by scholars and human rights activists, and called for further efforts by what he called an expanding “international coalition of friends.”
The final video presented the “Concert of gratitude and blessing” held on April 7, 2024, at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at California State University in Los Angeles and celebrating the legacy of the late Madam Yu Mei-Jung, the wife of Dr. Hong and the co-founder of Tai Ji Men Qigong Academy. At the event, various awards were presented to honor the memory of Madam Yu, including a U.S. Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award signed by President Joe Biden.