Hong Kong's decision to deny Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) a visa for a visit this week will likely damage the Chinese territory's image and help Ma's possible bid to be Taiwan's next president.
Ma's failure to get a visa so that he could accept a university's invitation to speak about cultural and municipal affairs was big news here the past few days.
The Taipei mayor is wildly popular in Hong Kong because of his good looks, fine manners and reputation for being a squeaky clean politician. During his last visit in 2001, packs of reporters and paparazzi followed him around like he was a rock star.
Ma's visa controversy will give new ammunition to critics of Hong Kong. They claim that civil liberties have been eroding since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" model.
The formula was supposed to guarantee capitalist Hong Kong a wide degree of autonomy along with civil liberties denied in the communist mainland.
But the skeptics -- including many Taiwanese -- claim the former British colony has become less free since returning to Chinese rule seven years ago.
The Taiwanese take great interest in Hong Kong because China wants the island's 23 million people to unify under a similar "one country, two systems" arrangement.
But the plan is extremely unpopular in Taiwan.
Ma's visa debacle will likely create new suspicions in Taiwan about how free Hong Kong really is.
Hong Kong officials have declined to explain Ma's visa rejection, saying they don't comment on individual visa cases. But it's widely assumed that Ma's visa troubles were linked to his recent criticism of China's proposed anti-secession law. The Chinese legislature plans to vote on the measure in March.
Taiwan says the law is designed to create a legal pretext for using military force to make the Taiwanese unify. And Ma recently said the law was unnecessary and unwise.
Beijing might have pressured Hong Kong to deny Ma's visa to keep him out of Hong Kong before lawmakers voted on the anti-secession law. Reporters would have definitely asked Ma about the issue, and he might have stirred up new debate about the proposal.
If Ma ignited new opposition to the law, this would have been embarrassing for Beijing and Hong Kong leaders. They'll probably wait until the anti-secession issue is settled and let Ma visit in April.
One reason Ma's visa rejection was big news in Hong Kong was that he has long been liked by Beijing. As a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Ma favors eventual unification and he has been critical of the pro-independence government.
Chinese leaders would celebrate if Ma were elected president in 2008. But Beijing's favor can be a curse for Taiwanese politicians. Candidates who are too friendly with China don't fare well in Taiwanese elections nowadays.
As a presidential hopeful, Ma's biggest challenge would be to convince voters that he wouldn't cut a quick deal with Beijing and sell out to China.
Now, Ma can point to his Hong Kong visa rejection as new proof that he's not Beijing's puppet.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS