Seven of the remaining eight personnel at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Hong Kong returned home yesterday after being ordered by the Hong Kong government to leave the territory by today after failing to obtain work visas.
The governments of Hong Kong and Macau suspended the operations of their representative offices in Taipei on May 18 and June 19 respectively, saying that Taiwanese authorities did not grant work visas to their employees.
Of the office’s five division heads, only Economy Division Director Ni Po-chia (倪伯嘉) remains, although his visa is to expire at the end of next month.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) in a statement yesterday said: “Since July 2018, the Hong Kong government has repeatedly set unreasonable political conditions whenever our employees applied for work visas, including requiring them to sign a pledge to observe the ‘one China’ policy. This made it impossible for our employees to assume office or continue to stay in Hong Kong. As such, there would be an adjustment in the businesses handled by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong, starting June 21,” the council said.
“Using the ‘one China’ policy as a barrier, Beijing and Hong Kong have disrupted staff rotation and operations at Taiwan’s office in Hong Kong. They unilaterally contravened terms of the agreement between Taiwan and Hong Kong that was signed in 2011. They are solely responsible for damaging Taiwan-Hong Kong relations, and hurting the welfare and interests of people in Taiwan and in Hong Kong,” it added.
“We adamantly refuse to accept the political suppression from Beijing and the Hong Kong government to force our employees to sign a ‘one China’ pledge, and severely warn and condemn them for the unreasonable move,” the council said.
It thanked the employees at the office for carrying on with their duties despite the political pressure.
The adjustment would ensure that the office would continue providing services to people without compromising quality, the council said, adding that it hoped that people in Taiwan can understand and support the council.
Taiwan’s relations with Hong Kong have deteriorated since 2018, when the two failed to settle legal issues over the extradition of Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳), a Hong Konger who reportedly confessed to murdering his girlfriend while on holiday in Taiwan. The two governments have yet to resolve the issues.
The case prompted the Hong Kong government to stipulate a now-scrapped extradition bill, which would have facilitated the transfer of fugitives on the order of the chief executive to any jurisdiction with which the territory lacks a formal extradition treaty.
However, the inclusion of China in the bill sparked year-long protests, as Hong Kongers feared it would further erode the distinction between the territory’s judicial system and the one administered by the Chinese Communist Party, and legitimize extraditions of political dissidents to China.
Taiwan’s support for the pro-democracy protests enraged the Hong Kong government. It suspended the operations of its office in Taiwan, accusing the nation of “rudely intervening in the internal affairs of Hong Kong.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS