Immigration officials keep a blacklist of undesirables, the Hong Kong security secretary said yesterday at a hearing where lawmakers from the special administrative region demanded to know why Falun Gong followers recently were bar-red from entering.
Hong Kong had previously denied there was any blacklist of the 100 Falun Gong meditation sect adherents turned away at the airport ahead of an appearance by Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) early this month.
Secretary of Security Regina Ip acknowledged for the first time yesterday that a blacklist exists, but she declined to be drawn on whether any Falun Gong members are on it.
"In each country, the immigration authorities are aware of the fact that there is a list of people, you may say it's a `blacklist' as termed by the media," Ip told a legislative hearing.
"Each government has such a list. It's not a list that doesn't ever change. It's subject to review from time to time."
Ip said Hong Kong's blacklist is drawn up by the head of immigration and is based on several considerations, including an individual's motivation for trying to enter, political and cultural circumstances in Hong Kong at the time and the person's background.
Ip reiterated the decisions to bar the Falun Gong followers were made according to individual considerations and she said they were not politically motivated.
Dozens of foreign followers of the Falun Gong meditation sect were allowed into Hong Kong ahead of the Fortune Global Forum conference this month, which also was attended by former US president Bill Clinton, but about 100 were kept out.
Falun Gong followers have maintained there was a blacklist, with some saying immigration officials appeared to use special code numbers when stopping people at passport control.
Falun Gong has been declared illegal and subjected to a severe crackdown in China, where the government has been alarmed by the group's organizational abilities, but it is still permitted in Hong Kong.
However, the Hong Kong government last week disclosed it is looking into how other countries deal with cults -- a move widely believed to be targeted at Falun Gong.
Opposition lawmakers accused the government of abusing police power in what critics have called the harsh handling of protesters outside the Fortune global conference.
Three activists were charged with obstructing the activities of the police during a minor scuffle.
"I worry that the secretary has no regret about this whatsoever," said pro-democracy lawmaker Emily Lau. "That is contrary to the expectations of the Hong Kong community."
Opposition legislator Cheung Man-kwong warned unnecessary force could put the public at odds with the police.
Around 10 activists showed up to protest outside the hearing, holding up a banner which said: "Abuse of police power, betrayal of human rights."
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS