Academics yesterday urged “professional assessment” by the government in response to calls to close the nation’s representative office in Hong Kong.
Taiwanese officials in Hong Kong have been told that their visas would not be renewed if they do not sign a document supporting Beijing’s claim to Taiwan under its “one China” principle, sources have said.
Several officials at Taiwan’s de facto Hong Kong consulate who were due to renew their visas have been asked by the Hong Kong government to sign the document, Reuters on Friday quoted a senior Taiwanese official with knowledge of the matter as saying.
Photo: Bloomberg
The media reports prompted increasing calls from Taiwanese online for the government to take a tough stance by closing its Hong Kong office.
National Chengchi University professor Lee Yeau-tarn (李酉潭), a researcher who specializes in politics and human rights, yesterday said that such a move would put Taiwanese working and studying in the territory at a disadvantage.
According to government estimates, 69,000 people hold both Taiwanese and Hong Kong residency, while about 5,700 Taiwanese working or studying in Hong Kong have only Taiwanese residency.
There are 11 Taiwanese officials at the representative office — which remains open — whose visas will expire in the next year or two, Lee said, adding that the government should seek to ensure that the office remains open afterward.
With international attention focused on Hong Kong, Taiwan should seek to cooperate with like-minded nations in its relations with the territory, he added.
Academia Sinica’s Institute of Taiwan History associate research fellow Wu Rwei-ren (吳叡人) echoed the sentiment, saying that closing the office would serve no strategic purpose.
“It is better to stick around until they force you out at the last minute,” he said, adding that this would highlight Beijing’s bullying for the world to see.
The requirement to sign a “one China” promise is not stipulated in Beijing’s new national security legislation for Hong Kong, he said.
The requirement was in the spirit of that law, but was not a new move by Beijing, Wu said, citing Mainland Affairs Council Macau Affairs Department Director Lu Chang-shui’s (盧長水) refusal to sign a similar document two years ago, preventing him from taking the post of representative to Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong government appeared to be putting the weight of the security legislation behind the requirement with the intention of crippling the Taiwan office’s operations, Wu said, adding that the move aims to cut off cooperation between Hong Kong and Taiwan “separatists.”
Beijing’s plan is to have the Taiwan office reduced to minimal staff so that it could do nothing more than issue visas, he said.
Taiwan’s current policies over Hong Kong and Macau will likely become unusable in the future, so the government must be proactive in designing new policies, Wu said.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’