Stand with Hong Kong
To date, to defy the proposed extradition bills which would allow the transfer of criminal suspects from Hong Kong to mainland China as a form of Beijing’s legal-political intervention in the territory’s internal affairs, mass demonstrations and assemblies have been organized in the former British colony in the past 12 months.
As an outcome of the sociopolitical unrest, over 7,000 Hong Kongers have been arrested. Ample protesters who are prosecuted have therefore been seeking asylum in foreign countries, as they are subject to police’s brutality and harassment, alongside fear of unjust prosecutions.
Aside from Canada, Taiwan is another popular region for Hong Kong citizens to seek asylum. By mid-July last year, around 30 Hong Kong protesters had already landed in Taiwan to file an asylum claim.
Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), the former manager of Causeway Bay Books, was detained in mainland China in 2015 after being accused of selling books critical of China’s leaders, who has been seeking asylum in Taiwan since early 2019, said he, by January this year, was aware of about 100 Hong Kongers in Taiwan who had fled there to avoid prosecution over their involvement in the anti-government protests in the semi-autonomous territory.
However, since Feb. 6 this year, Taipei has banned all visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, a travel restriction which aimed to bring the COVID-19 contagion under control. Once the travel restriction is lifted, it is expected that more Hong Kong protesters, especially those encountering prosecutions, would choose to seek asylum in Taiwan.
When the outbreak of COVID-19 is under control, I hope the Taiwanese Government, within their capacity, can consider approving the asylum claims filed by those of Hong Kong origins, especially those who face prosecution due to their involvement in socio-political protests. To speak up and battle against Beijing’s authoritarianism and disrespect for civil liberties and human rights values, Hong Kong and Taiwan should provide mutual support as opposed to Beijing’s interventions.
The future of Hong Kong and perhaps that of Taiwan are gloomy to some extent. Yet, the silver lining is many young people are willing to take the initiative to fight for the core values of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
I appreciate Taiwan’s consideration of Hong Kongers asylum claims. I hope Taiwan will continue to stand with Hong Kong for us and our next generations.
Jason Hung
London
Oath of office gesture
Elected and unelected politicians and national leaders in Taiwan have sworn the oath of office with the right arm raised at a 45° angle for more than 70 years, first introduced by Chiang Kai-Shek (蔣介石) in 1949, according to photos of him online.
This Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) oath of office gesture was then used by presidents Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), according to photos available online.
The gesture has become so normalized in the course of 70 years that even Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidents Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) used the same body language during their inaugurations without being aware that they were using a KMT political gesture, brought to Taiwan by Chiang.
However, Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), in photos available online, used the oath gesture of the right hand raised in the same way as politicians in Japan, Europe and the US take the oath of office.
Is it not time for the DPP to follow their own path and stop using the KMT oath of office gesture? The KMT can still use its own Chiang-inspired gesture, as it is part of KMT culture. However, the DPP needs to wake up and stop using the KMT oath gesture.
Anonymous
China’s supreme objective in a war across the Taiwan Strait is to incorporate Taiwan as a province of the People’s Republic. It follows, therefore, that international recognition of Taiwan’s de jure independence is a consummation that China’s leaders devoutly wish to avoid. By the same token, an American strategy to deny China that objective would complicate Beijing’s calculus and deter large-scale hostilities. For decades, China has cautioned “independence means war.” The opposite is also true: “war means independence.” A comprehensive strategy of denial would guarantee an outcome of de jure independence for Taiwan in the event of Chinese invasion or
A recent Taipei Times editorial (“A targeted bilingual policy,” March 12, page 8) questioned how the Ministry of Education can justify spending NT$151 million (US$4.74 million) when the spotlighted achievements are English speech competitions and campus tours. It is a fair question, but it focuses on the wrong issue. The problem is not last year’s outcomes failing to meet the bilingual education vision; the issue is that the ministry has abandoned the program that originally justified such a large expenditure. In the early years of Bilingual 2030, the ministry’s K-12 Administration promoted the Bilingual Instruction in Select Domains Program (部分領域課程雙語教學實施計畫).
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) earlier this month said it is necessary for her to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and it would be a “huge boost” to the party’s local election results in November, but many KMT members have expressed different opinions, indicating a struggle between different groups in the party. Since Cheng was elected as party chairwoman in October last year, she has repeatedly expressed support for increased exchanges with China, saying that it would bring peace and prosperity to Taiwan, and that a meeting with Xi in Beijing takes priority over meeting
Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman for maritime affairs Rogelio Villanueva on Monday said that Manila’s claims in the South China Sea are backed by international law. Villanueva was responding to a social media post by the Chinese embassy alleging that a former Philippine ambassador in 1990 had written a letter to a German radio operator stating that the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) did not fall within Manila’s territory. “Sovereignty is not merely claimed, it is exercised,” Villanueva said. The Philippines won a landmark case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 that found China’s sweeping claim of sovereignty in
RSS