Hong Kong had a Beijing-backed plan to “cultivate the next generation of Taiwan leaders” by engaging in more city-level talks following the “Hong Kong-Taiwan Cities Forum” with then-Taichung City, several US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Aug. 30 showed.
The cables also showed that Hong Kong in February 2009 ventured a trade arrangement that would include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China, an idea that was followed by a proposal suggested by Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) in April that year to build a “mega-region” that would encompass Taiwan, Hong Kong and China’s Guangdong and Fujian provinces.
Cross-strait rapprochement under President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration warmed up the relations between Taiwan and Hong Kong, which used to keep Taiwan at “arm’s length” during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) government, Hong Kong Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam (林瑞麟) said, according to a cable dated Feb. 24, 2009, from the US consulate in the territory.
Another cable, dated May 8, 2009, showed that US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was concerned about the development.
According to the cable, Clinton asked for more information on changes in Hong Kong-Taiwan relations, especially about “what specific political agendas, if any, are driving this shift in Hong Kong’s policy” and “Beijing’s role, if any, behind these developing ties.”
Clinton also made inquiries about whether Hong Kong receives direction from Beijing on inviting Hu to Hong Kong, what Beijing saw as the benefits of increased Hong Kong-Taiwan ties, what the purpose of Hu’s trip was, among others, the cable showed.
A cable dated June 1, 2009, from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) quoted Hu as telling then-AIT director Stephen Young that “the results of the visit included Hong Kong’s agreement to improve the visa status for Taiwanese visitors and to establish a Hong Kong-Taiwan Cities Forum,” as Hu characterized his trip as a “breakthrough.”
Hu’s visit was one of many high-level visits between two sides since Hong Kong’s handover to China. Other than that exchange, Taiwan and Hong Kong set up a semi-official cooperation mechanism to foster closer and more regular cooperation, announced when Lam visited Taipei on June 5 and 6, 2009.
At a meeting with then-US consul general in Hong Kong Joe Donovan on June 23, 2009, Lam evinced “a clear enthusiasm for the future development of Hong Kong-Taiwan relations,” saying that Hong Kong had “support and understanding” of Beijing to advance the relations “to cover more than just economic and commercial matters,” a cable dated the next day said.
On the Hong Kong-Taiwan Cities Forum, the cable dated Feb. 24 shows that Lam told Donovan that “Hong Kong hopes to expand the forum to other cities in Taiwan, including Taipei.”
“The mayors of today, Lam predicted, are the ministers or higher-level officials of tomorrow, implying Hong Kong is actively cultivating this generation of leaders,” the cable reads.
The cable quoted Lam as explaining the reason why Taichung rather than Taipei was the initial partner in Hong Kong’s new cross-strait outreach — Lam and Hu got to know each other “at [a] social function” when Lam was serving at the Hong Kong representative office in Canada while Hu was then the Taiwanese representative.
Hu brought up his hope that “Taiwan, Hong Kong, Fujian, and Guangdong could become one of the world’s important mega-regions, which are centers of productivity and innovation” when he met Young on May 26, 2009.
While giving a speech about “the future of the Chinese nation” at Hong Kong University, “Hu said he used a poetic phrase ... to describe the relations between Taiwan, Hong Kong and the PRC [People’s Republic of China]: ‘New Moon (Taiwan), Bright Pearl (HK), and Red Sun (PRC).’”
“The idea was to forget about independence or unification for Taiwan but rather to focus on developing proper interaction so that the different parties could act in union,” the cable reads.
“While his speech was well received in Hong Kong, Hu said he had not publicized it in Taiwan because he was worried the DPP [Democratic Progressive Party] would distort his ideas,” the cable showed.
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