By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TAIPEI, Taiwan –

It was announced on Monday that Taiwan and China exchanged spies prior to a historic meeting between the two sides’ leaders in early November. Taiwanese media reports that this is the first occasion where the two sides traded spies.

Taiwan released a Chinese spy named Li Zhihao after he had been jailed for 16 years. He was granted early parole and was sent back to China.

China released Taiwanese military officials Chu Kung-hsun and Hsu Chang-kuo, who had been held for over nine years. The two men, officers in Taiwan’s Bureau of Military Intelligence, were arrested in Vietnam near the Vietnam-China border in 2006. They were given life sentences for harming the China’s national security. China later commuted their sentences to 20 years, according to Taiwan’s China Times newspaper. The two men were sent back to Taiwan following their release.

President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan and President Xi Jinping met in Singapore on November 7. The meeting was the first time in 60 years that leaders of both sides held a summit. While the two leaders did not come to any formal agreements during the summit, it represented a significant effort toward strengthened ties between Taiwan and China.

Taiwan’s presidential office has stated that the exchange was a sign of improved ties between the two sides. The Taiwanese presidential spokesman, Charles Chen, released a statement stating that the exchange was “based on a mutual goodwill gesture delivered by the Ma-Xi meeting” and that “President Ma Ying-jeou hopes cross-strait mutual exchanges can continue and make more concrete achievements in the future.”

Taiwan has been ruled separately from China since 1949, when the Nationalist party (or Kuomintang) fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war to the Communist party. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province and intends to reclaim Taiwan as part of mainland China.

Relations between the two sides were poor until President Ma took office in 2008. During his term, President Ma has acted amicably toward China, strengthening the two countries’ ties in tourism, transit, investment, and trade.

The strengthened ties between Taiwan and China have sparked concern among many Taiwanese, who are apprehensive about China’s growing influence over Taiwan.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Taiwan Says it Has Swapped Convicted Spies With China – 30 November 2015

BBC – Taiwan and China Swapped Spies Ahead of Leaders’ Talks – 30 November 2015

The New York Times – Exchange of Spies With China Is Positive Sign, Taiwan Says – 30 November 2015

Reuters – Taiwan, China Swap Jailed Spies After Leaders’ Historic Meet – 30 November 2015

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan –

Police are investigating a fire at a Christian TV station in Karachi, a city in southern Pakistan. Police initially thought that the fire at Gawahi TV, a cable television station, had started due to an electrical short-circuit. However, the owner, Pastor Sarfraz Williams, believes that the fire was deliberately set.

Gawahi TV employed both Christians and Muslims and broadcasted gospel programming. The channel was preparing to release its Christmas programs before the fire occurred.

Mr. Williams made an official complaint to police following the fire, and a forensic investigation is underway. Mr. Williams has stated that the TV station had been getting threatening phone calls and messages.

Mr. Williams’ brother, Javed Williams, stated that the locks on the station’s doors appeared to have been cut open. Most of Gawahi’s materials, including religious books, were destroyed. The channel’s security system was destroyed during the fire, and security footage has not been found. Computers were either destroyed or missing entirely. The computers that were left to burn in the fire were missing their hard drives. Additionally, the cameras that the TV station had used were missing as well.

Mr. Williams also made a blasphemy complaint against those behind the fire, who are currently unidentified. It is remarkable that he made the blasphemy complaint, as such complaints are usually used in cases against Christians. The blasphemy law is implicated because the attack on Gawahi TV involved the burning of religious books.

Human rights groups have criticized the use of the blasphemy law in Pakistan because they believe that the complaint is misused by those seeking to settle personal feuds and those seeking to facilitate “land-grabbing”.

Karachi, which is Pakistan’s largest city, has a substantial Catholic population. Gawahi TV was located in the Akhtar Colony area, which is populated by several religious communities. The population’s makeup in the area is around 90% Muslim and 10% minorities.

There have recently been several other attacks against religious minorities in Pakistan. Churches were bombed in Lahore in March, leading to the deaths of over a dozen people. Last week, a mosque owned by the Ahmadis, a Muslim sect that Pakistan’s Sunni Muslim majority thinks unfavorably of, was attacked after a factory worker was accused of burning pages of the Quran.

Although Pakistan’s government has pledged to protect religious minorities, such attacks have continued. Some critics have questioned the government’s commitment to protecting religious minority groups.

For more information, please see:

Business Standard – Owner of Christian Channel Lodges Blasphemy Complaint in Pak – 28 November 2015

NBC News – Pakistan’s Gawahi Christian TV Station Gutted in Fire – 27 November 2015

The Express Tribune – Christian TV Channel Office Burnt to Ashes in Karachi – 26 November 2015

The New York Times – Pakistani Police Investigate Fire at Christian TV station – 26 November 2015