Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) has proposed the idea of a “Hong Kong village” in the hope of enticing Hong Kongers to move to the city once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed. As someone from Hong Kong who has been studying in Taiwan for the past eight years, I find this infuriating.
The advantages that Han claims for Kaohsiung also exist in other cities and counties in Taiwan, so any attempt to attract people from Hong Kong should focus on Taiwan’s advantages rather than on claims that these advantages are unique to Kaohsiung. After all, under Han’s leadership, other cities are beginning to overtake Kaohsiung.
Kaohsiung’s greatest asset is probably its people, but the campaign to recall Han makes it clear that even they dislike the mayor. How could an outsider be expected to like an inept mayor when even the city’s residents want to get rid of him? It is pretty obvious that Hong Kongers are joined by Kaohsiung residents in their dislike for Han.
Looking back at the past six months, Han has shown no understanding of the situation in Hong Kong. He professed no knowledge of the demonstrations going on there, and the Kaohsiung City Government removed a “Lennon wall” in support of the Hong Kong protests that was set up in the Sizihwan Tunnel on the campus of National Sun Yat-sen University.
Hong Kong students’ dislike of Han and his comments has spread all the way back to Hong Kong. His proposal of a Hong Kong village is just his last gasp as he tries to improve his image to save his political career.
The period before the presidential election in January saw a surge in Taiwanese public sentiment in favor of protecting Taiwan and Hong Kong, and opposing China.
Han, who at the time was busy closing down the Lennon wall, is now trying to use this very sentiment to counteract the campaign to recall him as he attempts to stop his hemorrhaging support and hold on to his position as mayor. Instead, he is only highlighting his inability to govern. As someone from Hong Kong, I strongly disagree with his attempt to use Hong Kongers as a springboard to bolster his popularity.
The Hong Kong village idea does not contain any sign of long-term friendliness toward Hong Kong. Trying to attract Hong Kongers by offering 48 Chinese-English bilingual schools only reveals Han’s inability to understand why people want to move away from Hong Kong, the main reason why Hong Kongers are attracted to Taiwan, or what they want. Even if a Hong Kong village is built, it would very likely be empty and deserted.
If Han truly wants to help the people of Hong Kong, he should initiate a law regulating contacts with Hong Kong and Macau, and a refugee act, so that people from Hong Kong could remain in Taiwan in the long term.
If such a policy is politically difficult to accomplish, he could take a step back and allow Hong Kongers in Taiwan to organize and participate in events and activities in support of Hong Kong rather than promoting an empty slogan.
Academia Sinica Institute of Taiwan History associate research fellow Wu Rwei-ren (吳叡人) has said that every Lennon wall is a Hong Kong in miniature. Since the Lennon wall in the Sizihwan Tunnel was removed by the Han administration, thus blocking the demands of Hong Kongers, what is the use of building a Hong Kong village?
Furthermore, Hong Kongers like to live together, so that Hong Kong exists wherever there are people from Hong Kong. You have to wonder if Han came up with his idea to build a Hong Kong Village — which lacks both the support of Hong Kongers and the character of Hong Kong — while he was hung over, or if it was thought up by his bureaucrats in a fit of fantastic imagination.
Mayor Han, the Hong Kong protests have not ended. You are very welcome to express your support for Hong Kong, but there is no need for any empty talk about a Hong Kong village.
Chung King-chuen is a postgraduate student at National Sun Yat-sen University’s Sociology Department.
Translated by Perry Svensson
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
In her article in Foreign Affairs, “A Perfect Storm for Taiwan in 2026?,” Yun Sun (孫韻), director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the US has grown indifferent to Taiwan, contending that, since it has long been the fear of US intervention — and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) inability to prevail against US forces — that has deterred China from using force against Taiwan, this perceived indifference from the US could lead China to conclude that a window of opportunity for a Taiwan invasion has opened this year. Most notably, she observes that
For Taiwan, the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets are a warning signal: When a major power stretches the boundaries of self-defense, smaller states feel the tremors first. Taiwan’s security rests on two pillars: US deterrence and the credibility of international law. The first deters coercion from China. The second legitimizes Taiwan’s place in the international community. One is material. The other is moral. Both are indispensable. Under the UN Charter, force is lawful only in response to an armed attack or with UN Security Council authorization. Even pre-emptive self-defense — long debated — requires a demonstrably imminent
Since being re-elected, US President Donald Trump has consistently taken concrete action to counter China and to safeguard the interests of the US and other democratic nations. The attacks on Iran, the earlier capture of deposed of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and efforts to remove Chinese influence from the Panama Canal all demonstrate that, as tensions with Beijing intensify, Washington has adopted a hardline stance aimed at weakening its power. Iran and Venezuela are important allies and major oil suppliers of China, and the US has effectively decapitated both. The US has continuously strengthened its military presence in the Philippines. Japanese Prime
RSS