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."
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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