Members of several political parties yesterday expressed support for Hong Kong democracy activists facing repression as the International Monitor of Hong Kong Civil and Political Rights Action Group released its first report on civil and political rights in Hong Kong on the 21st anniversary of the territory’s handover to China.
Beijing promised to maintain the “one country, two systems” framework prior to the territory’s handover from Britain in 1997, but continued attempts by the authorities to restrict Hong Kongers’ freedom of speech, as well as civil and political rights, suggest otherwise, Leung Man-to (梁文韜), a member of the group and a political science professor at National Cheng Kung University, told a joint news conference.
The report details the way in which the Chinese government has contravened the framework, preventing pro-independence Hong Kongers from running in elections and ousting two legally elected lawmakers, Sixtus “Baggio” Leung (梁頌恆) and Yau Wai-ching (游蕙禎).
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Although Beijing has described Hong Kong’s political issues as China’s internal affairs, the territory is governed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which it adopted in 1991 when it was under British rule, Leung Man-to said.
To promote more discussions and collaboration on the territory’s human rights conditions, the group would continue to hold meetings with political groups, academics, activists and civil groups from around the world, and issue more reports, he said.
“Hong Kong is slowly becoming what Taiwan used to be. Things are very bad in terms of human rights and freedom of speech,” Hong Kong Nationalist Party convener Andy Chan (陳浩天) said.
Due to his pro-independence stance, he was banned from running in elections in 2016, as well as participating in rallies, raising funds, opening a bank account or even applying for credit cards, he said.
Beijing wants to destroy Hong Kongers’ self-determination and way of life, New Power Party spokesman Lee Chao-li (李兆立) said.
“The way it has bullied Hong Kongers and ousted their lawmakers shows that it has neither confidence nor integrity. Its promise of maintaining the ‘status quo’ must not be trusted,” Lee said.
Taoyuan City Councilor and Green Party Taiwan convener Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇), Social Democratic Party convener Fan Yun (范雲), Taiwan Solidarity Union member and former lawmaker Chou Ni-an (周倪安), and Flanc Radical member Ho Cheng-hui (何澄輝) also attended the news conference.
Participants jointly condemned Beijing and the Hong Kong government for cracking down on political dissidents and demanded that they release all political prisoners.
They also called on the Taiwanese government and the international community to show support for and assist Hong Kong democracy activists facing repression.
Sixtus Leung, who was released on bail after he was convicted of unlawful assembly in May, was unable to attend, but issued a statement.
Over the past several years, more than 100 Hong Kongers have faced persecution due to their dissenting views, he said.
“While the youngest of them was 15, the oldest was over 70. Most of them do not belong to any parties and are in dire need of support,” he added.
He urged Taiwanese to learn from Hong Kong and “never let Taiwan, which is still enjoying freedom and democracy, to fall into the hands of authoritarian China.”
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
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats