Taiwan Again Blocks Return of Dissident

Authorities blocked a self-exiled Taiwanese dissident from returning home Tuesday and immediately put him on a flight off the island. About 1,000 of his supporters clashed with police near the airport.

It was the second time in a week that publisher Hsu Hsin-liang was prevented from ending his seven-year exile. On Sunday, airline officials in Tokyo refused to let him board a flight to Taiwan because he lacked a visa.

Hsu, 45, who has been living in the United States, said he wants to return to Taiwan in time to help opposition candidates in an election Saturday for the Legislative Yuan and National Assembly.

He succeeded in boarding a flight to Taiwan from Manila but was surrounded by police Tuesday upon arrival at Taipei’s airport. He was put back on a flight to the Philippine capital.

Headed for Tokyo

“It’s not so easy to bring democracy” to Taiwan, Hsu said upon his return to Manila. He said he planned to board a flight today for Tokyo and seek to stay there several days while continuing efforts to return home.

Opposition forces on Taiwan have not been uniformly enthusiastic about Hsu’s highly publicized plans to return home. He is not the acknowledged leader of the opposition, which consists of several factions that recently joined to form the Democratic Progressive Party.

Hsu has been charged with sedition in Taiwan for allegedly helping organize an anti-government riot in the southern port of Kaohsiung two months after he left the island.

Police did not arrest him when he arrived Tuesday, apparently out of concern that his arrest would cause disturbances.

About 1,000 supporters tried to reach the airport in Taiwan to greet Hsu, but police stopped them less than a mile from the airport building and sprayed them with water when they ignored orders to disperse, witnesses said.

The crowd retaliated by tossing stones but finally left at the urging of Hsu’s brother, Hsu Kuo-tai. There were no reports of injuries.

In a related development, Taiwan’s representative office in Hong Kong on Tuesday denied visas for seven other Taiwanese dissidents, all naturalized U.S. citizens, and the wife of a dissident.

Linda Gail Arrigo Shih, 27, of San Diego, wife of jailed Taiwanese dissident Shih Ming-teh, said officials gave no reason for the rejection. She was expelled from Taiwan for her alleged involvement in the 1979 riots. Shih is serving a life sentence in connection with the riots.