Taiwan must not become the next Hong Kong, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, as it marked the 27th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule.
Taiwan must safeguard its freedom and democracy, and must never believe in promises made by Beijing, it added.
Hong Kong has changed from “one country, two systems” to “one country, one system” under Beijing, DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) told a news conference at party headquarters in Taipei.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“It is the same strategy that Beijing is planning to use to take over Taiwan,” he added.
“China has weaponized the legal system by approving new security laws and other measures to take control of Hong Kong’s politics and economy, to repress freedom, human rights and democratic values,” Hung said.
“It is a gruesome lesson that Taiwan must heed. We cannot trust the goodwill or promises of a dictatorial regime,” he said, calling on the public to learn from history.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Despite Beijing’s promise that it would govern Hong Kong based on “one country, two systems” and that there would be no changes to the territory’s society, economy and political framework for 50 years, “people now realize that it was all a big lie,” he said.
China has weaponized the legal system to restrict freedom and human rights, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) said, citing as examples the imposition of the National Security Law in 2020 and the passage of Article 23 of the Basic Law in March this year.
People working with civic or rights groups or with links to international organizations can be arrested and prosecuted on charges of committing acts of “treason, secession, sedition and subversion against the central government,” Wu said.
China has even gone further than its own legal jurisdiction, with its announcement of legal guidelines allowing its courts to try Taiwanese for advocating independence.
‘Taiwan and China are two separate political entities,” Wu said.
“Today on this anniversary [of the handover], we want to warn Taiwanese society about the current situation in Hong Kong,” he said.
“Yet we have political parties in Taiwan that still choose to believe in talk and promises by the Beijing government,” Hung said. “We have all seen China rip up the agreements it signed on Tibet and Hong Kong.”
“These should serve as lessons for us, that Taiwan must follow its own path of freedom and democracy. We must have control over our future, and must not believe in the lies and promises of Chinese Communist Party leaders,” he added.
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