Churchman lauds N.Z.-Taiwan ties

Press, 16 November 1987, Page 6

Churchman lauds N.Z.-Taiwan ties

A Maori carving was acclaimed as the symbolic embodiment of ties between Christians in Taiwan and New Zealand by a Taiwanese Church leader, Dr Kao Chun Ming, in Christchurch last evening. Dr Kao, the general secretary of the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church, was presented with the carving during the signing of an agreement of mutual support between the two churches during the opening of the New Zealand General Assembly. It was a symbol of the new relationship between the Presbyterian Churches in Taiwan and New Zealand, and of "the inve of Jesus Christ,” said

Dr Kao. The carving was by Mr Clark (Karaka) Takao, the son of the first Maori Moderator of the Church, the Very Rev. Tame Takao. The former moderator had also visited Dr Kao in Taiwan three years ago, after the general secretary’s . release from jail as a prisoner of conscience. The country’s repressive maritial laws have been blamed for domestic turmoil and the violation of human rights. Dr Kao represents the largest Protestant organisation in Taiwan, and one which has a strong stand on human rights. He spent four years in jail for sheltering the organiser of a mass political rally.

Dr Kao was also adopted aS a prisoner of conscience by the human rights organisation, Amnesty International. He said his years in prison were also hard for his family and Church in a predominantly nonChristian country, but in spite of that, the Church had grown more than 40,000 in the eight years sfnce he was first imprisoned. Evangelism and social justice were the two “legs of the Church,” and both were needed for it to go forward, he said. The . new agreement was a sign that New Zealand Presbyterians would also be working for true justice, peace, and salvation, said Dr Kao.