Groups say church shooting a hate crimeACT NOW: The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and academics called for probes into pro-China organizations, as the suspect belonged to a US branch of a pro-unification groupBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterThe Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and academics yesterday said the shooting at a church in Laguna Woods, California, on Sunday involving Taiwanese-Americans was a hate crime, and called for an investigation into links between the suspect and pro-China groups in Taiwan and the US. The shooting is related to hate speech disseminated by pro-China groups, so the government must act to prevent them from taking advantage of the nation’s democratic system and freedom of speech to incite hostility and violence, Presbyterian Church in Taiwan officials told a news conference at the Che-Lam Presbyterian Church (濟南教會) in Taipei yesterday. We must deal with this serious division of national identity among different ethnic groups,” the church said in a statement read by Presbyterian Church in Taiwan director-general Chen Hsin-liang (陳信良). Activists and church leaders hold a moment of silence for the victims of a California church shooting during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan on Wednesday, May 18, 2022. “NACPU members have entered Taiwan multiple times in the past,” he said, urging the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to verify such links and ban NACPU members from entering Taiwan.

Source: Taipei Times May 18, 2022 23:47 UTC