The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday voiced its support for the thousands of students and faculty members from 24 colleges and universities in Hong Kong who are on strike for democracy.
“Democracy is a value that goes beyond borders. Repeatedly, the people of Hong Kong have showed their determination for democracy,” said the DPP’s China Affairs Department director Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), who is also a lawmaker. “The Hong Kong government and Beijing must listen to the voices of the people, look into their demands seriously, and respond to them positively.”
Chao said that over the past few years, Hong Kongers have shown a strong desire for authentic democracy and direct suffrage for the special administrative region’s chief executive through demonstrations, rallies and marches that drew large numbers of participants, as well as the Occupy Central campaign.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
“However, Hong Kong and Beijing authorities did not respond to their demands. Rather, they crushed [Hong Kong] people’s dream for democracy with a white paper on the practice of the ‘one country, two systems’ policy, and the Hong Kong electoral reform program,” Chao said.
“Having traveled on the same road to democracy, the people of Taiwan understand how hard it is, and can feel how the people of Hong Kong feel — dreams of democracy may be repressed, but will not disappear,” he said. “We will continue to show our concern and support for the pursuit for democracy.”
Separately yesterday, in support of the Hong Kong students’ strike for democracy, the Student’s Association of National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu City said it has undertaken a joint action with several universities natiownide, including National Central University (NCU), National Chung Cheng University, National Sun Yat-sen University and National Taiwan University, to launch an online petition and series of lectures named “Street Seminar on Democracy (街頭民主講堂),” among other activities.
“We will also compile a ‘lazybones pack’ on related information to help Taiwanese students understand the spirit and objectives of the student movement in Hong Kong,” said Hsu Guangcheng (徐光成), president of the Students’ Association at National Tsing Hua University.
“The ongoing boycott is a large-scale movement showing solidarity among several universities in Hong Kong, with an emphasis on Hong Kongers striving for true universal suffrage and democracy,” added Chan Wan-yi (陳蘊兒), vice president of the NCU Students’ Association and herself a student from Hong Kong. “We hope that actions that express our support from Taiwan can be heard by Hong Kong students across the Taiwan Strait, to let them know that they are not alone.”
“The Chinese government has abandoned their promise of ‘democratic governance in Hong Kong,’” Hsu said. “They have neglected the results of the referendum conducted by the people of Hong Kong and turned a blind eye toward calls for true universal suffrage for the chief executive election, refusing to allow the people of Hong Kong to attain the goal of autonomy.”
Hsu said his association has already invited faculty from the school’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences, with classes for the Street Seminar on Democracy scheduled for next week.
The classes are to elaborate on the Hong Kong students’ campaign for democracy, while emphasizing the resolve to defend democracy and freedom in Taiwan, he said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS