Thousands of people yesterday rallied outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, demanding that the Hong Kong government withdraw its controversial extradition bill and release protesters arrested in connection with demonstrations in the territory last week.
The rally organized by Hong Kong students, the Taiwan Citizen Front and the Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy (TYAD), drew more than 10,000 people despite scorching heat, organizers said.
Although Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) on Saturday said that the reviews of the bill in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council would be suspended, it was not withdrawn, said TYAD member Michelle Wu (吳奕柔), who is also president of the National Taiwan University Student Association.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
If passed, the bill would allow anyone arrested in Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China for trial, subjecting them to that nation’s notoriously opaque judicial system, she said.
“We urge Carrie Lam to immediately promise to withdraw the bill, take responsibility for the violent crackdowns that escalated clashes between police and protesters, stop persecution of protesters, cease unwarranted searches and thoroughly investigate officers involved in police violence,” Wu said.
Hong Kong’s experience should serve as a warning for Taiwanese, proving that Beijing’s “one country, two systems” arrangement cannot be trusted, said Hong Kong Independence Union convener Wayne Chan (陳家駒), who was arrested in Hong Kong on Sunday last week for joining protests against the bill and released on bail the following day.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
He used to believe that the arrangement would protect Hong Kongers’ freedom, ensure democracy and the rule of the law in the territory, he said.
“However, today we cannot even speak out loud the truth we believe in, or express our expectations for Hong Kong’s future,” he said.
He will soon return to Hong Kong to face investigation from the authoritarian government, he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“I do not know whether the government would again shoot and arrest people for going on strike, but we Hong Kongers will fight to the end no matter what,” he said.
Taiwan and Hong Kong must stand in solidarity in their fight against Beijing, both being victims of China’s imperialism, said Wu Ruei-ren (吳叡人), an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica Institute of Taiwan History.
China expands its authoritarianism by promoting the “one country, two systems” framework, which is in reality a form of imperialism and colonialism, he said, adding: “Hong Kong deserves a second chance to realize self-determination.”
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The Taipei rally, which began at 2pm, lasted more than three hours before ending with people placing white flowers and paper cranes in front of a stage on Jinan Road to condemn police violence against the protesters in Hong Kong and offer condolences for a Hong Kong man who died on Saturday after falling from scaffolding in the Admiralty district after he hung a banner opposing the extradition bill.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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