Zhonghua Citizen's League
Encyclopedia : Z : ZH : ZHO : Zhonghua Citizen's League
The Zhonghua Citizen's League, (long form: Greater Zhonghua Patriotic Citizen's League, Chinese: 大中華公民愛國聯盟會) is a nationalistic, right-wing, Pan-Blue leaning Chinese cultural and social organization based in Taipei, Taiwan. It was founded by Lin Dewei, Zhao Tian, and Yang Licheng between 1999 to bring together different groups of conservative activists in that country. Since then, it has engaged in political activism as well as its cultural and social functions, through which they have tried to gain the support of the public at large. As of 2005, it claimed an estimated 4,700 members most of whom live in Taiwan, but a few of whom are expatriates living in the United States. They also claimed and a budget of 20 million Taiwan dollars (562,281 euros) a year. Though it is not a political party in itself, a few members have run (albeit unsuccessfully) for political office on the local level in Taiwan under the KMT ticket. The League also produces a quarterly journal for internal circulation among members, called the Republican Quarterly, containing articles in Chinese and English on historical and contemporary Sinology, Chinese culture, international politics, and right-wing political theory. The Republican Quarterly also frequently carries short stories and artwork in what they call "Nationalist Realism" style.
Organization
For an organization of its size, the League has a complex hierarchy of positions and departments, with about 35% of its members occupying an "official" post. Its leaders state that this structure was implemented in order to accommodate growth and acceptance of new members into the League. Vice President Zhao Tian also admitted that previous some positions are sinecures, with no real responsibilities attached to them, though the League is working on phasing this practice out. At present, the League is led by a president, who is assisted by a vice-president. Below them are the Chairman, Premier, Chancellor, and the Right and Left Ministers, who are the heads of the Policy Committee, Executive Committee, District Committees, and Judicial Committee, respectively. Each of these Committees supervise respective Bureaus, and some Bureaus are responsible for the management of Departments and Divisions. A few "special" divisions include the "Confucius Study Division" (儒家研會), and the "Human Diversity Research Institute" (人類學研習部門).CIROHR Controversy
In 2002, a NGO, the Center for Independent Research on Human Rights (often called 'sir-orr') was founded. Claiming to be a non-partisan organization based in San Fransisco, USA, its chairman was "John P. Vrigedacht," who claimed to be Dutch-American. The publications and papers of CIROHR indicate a strong right-wing stance, as well as being "unusually" pro-Chinese for an American based human-rights organization. Because of this, a defector from the ZCL claimed in early 2003 that CIROHR was in fact a "satellite organization" of the ZCL, and that Vrigedacht was the psedudonym of Jovan Teodor Jovanovich, a Serb who was an acquaintance of the League's founder. The ZCL attempted to contradict the defector's statement, but neither party was able to procure sufficient evidence to prove their case, aside from the fact that Vrigedacht was indeed a pseudonym. CIROHR, however, ceased to function efficiently in 2005.Accusations
Opponents of the League accused them of using extortion and violence to achieve political ends. In 2002, a Pan-Green activist accused a low-ranking Citizen's League official of harassing a homosexual American English teacher in Taizhong, as well as a plot to persuade the mayor of Taipei to demolish a synagogue. As recently as 2005, the League's president, Lin Dewei was implicated in ordering the assaults of two Jewish Free Tibet campaigners in New York City. However, no link to date has been established to either incident.
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