China warned against foreign meddling in Hong Kong’s politics yesterday, ahead of an expected announcement to recommend highly contentious restrictions on the first direct elections for the leader of the Chinese-controlled financial hub.
An article in the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) flagship newspaper, said that some people in the former British colony were colluding with outside forces to interfere in Hong Kong’s governance.
“Not only are they undermining Hong Kong’s stability and development, but they’re also attempting to turn Hong Kong into a bridgehead for subverting and infiltrating the Chinese mainland... This can absolutely not be permitted,” the article said, citing an unidentified official in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ department for Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Photo: AFP
The article said that as a special administrative region of China, Hong Kong’s affairs are entirely a Chinese internal matter.
China would refute and make “solemn representations” in response to statements and actions by foreign forces and demand that they “cease meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs and Chinese internal political matters by any means,” the article said.
The article did not identify any individuals or groups, although the UK and the US have both been vocal about their hopes for genuine democratic reform in Hong Kong.
The warning appeared as China’s legislature was expected to announce today that an elite pro-Beijing body must vet candidates for the territory’s leader starting from 2017 — setting up a showdown with pro-democracy groups who want Hong Kongers to be able to freely nominate candidates.
Hong Kong newspapers have reported that the Chinese Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress is to recommend that voters choose from up to three candidates named by a nominating body, while the public gets no say.
That would resemble the current system under which a 1,200-member panel stacked with mostly pro-Beijing elites gets to pick the leader.
Democracy activists are threatening to respond with a mass sit-in which would paralyze the financial district that is the symbolic heart of the city. Student leaders are also considering a walkout of university classes next month.
Since being handed back from the UK in 1997, Hong Kong has retained a high degree of legal, economic and political autonomy.
However, there are growing concerns among many of the territory’s 7 million people that Beijing wishes to insert itself more strongly into Hong Kong’s affairs, particularly in ensuring that its leadership remains beholden to the CCP.
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS