July 1 will be the seventh anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to Chinese rule. Hong Kong has been going downhill since the handover. The economic slump has recently been compounded by the SARS epidemic imported from Guangdong Province.
What's more, the territory's freedoms and the rule of law are in danger. The recent dispute over anti-subversion legislation has prompted protests from Hong Kong democrats and caused anxiety among Chinese democracy advocates. Even the US has openly expressed concern over the matter.
Article 23 of Hong Kong's Basic Law stipulates: "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies."
This article is aimed at taking Hong Kong from "one country, two systems" to "one country, one system."
During the post-handover honeymoon, horse races went on as usual, people danced as usual and the annual demonstrations commemorating the June 4 Tiananmen massacre went on as usual. The Falun Gong movement also remained active in Hong Kong, even though it was banned in China.
But Hong Kong's relative freedom and the "two systems" environment quickly became an annoyance to Beijing. China has been thinking about how to bring Hong Kong into one system. The Hong Kong government's national security bill, if enacted, will severely curb the rights of its people. Once the bill is passed, "one country, two systems" will cease to exist entirely.
The rule of law has been crumbling in Hong Kong since the handover. The political system is already undemocratic. Once the national security bill is passed, it will seriously affect freedom in a vast number of areas -- thought, religion, press, speech, cultural creativity, information, academic research and assembly. The law will fundamentally change Hong Kong society. Any legislation aimed at fulfilling the mandate of Article 23 will introduce authoritarian China's ideology into Hong Kong's legal system and seriously weaken the freedoms and rights the people of Hong Kong have long enjoyed. It will also undermine the legal basis for "one country, two systems" and damage Hong Kong's international image.
"One country, two systems" was a sales pitch aimed at Taiwan -- to make unification with China appear more attractive. Since Hong Kong's handover, however, Taiwanese are simply not interested in becoming a "special administrative region" ruled by a government hand-picked and controlled by Beijing. Because "one country, two systems" has failed to win over Taiwanese, the proposal has lost its purpose and China's government has no reason to continue to extend freedoms and rights to Hong Kong's people.
Some people here believe Taiwan should consider accepting the "one China" principle. In light of how Beijing has treated Hong Kong, once Taiwan accepts being a part of China, Beijing will no longer need to hold up Hong Kong as a showcase. Hong Kong's importance will fall and Taiwanese will also become second-class citizens under "one country, one system."
Some politicians in Taiwan are promoting a "one China" consensus and fantasizing about participating in international organizations under a "one China roof." As a result, PFP Legislator Kao Ming-chien (高明見) became a tool of Beijing for denigrating Taiwan's status at the SARS conference in Kuala Lumpur. In light of Hong Kong's past glory and its dismal future, "one country, two systems" is a losing proposition.
Taiwan has lost Trump. Or so a former State Department official and lobbyist would have us believe. Writing for online outlet Domino Theory in an article titled “How Taiwan lost Trump,” Christian Whiton provides a litany of reasons that the William Lai (賴清德) and Donald Trump administrations have supposedly fallen out — and it’s all Lai’s fault. Although many of Whiton’s claims are misleading or ill-informed, the article is helpfully, if unintentionally, revealing of a key aspect of the MAGA worldview. Whiton complains of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s “inability to understand and relate to the New Right in America.” Many
Taiwan is to hold a referendum on Saturday next week to decide whether the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, which was shut down in May after 40 years of service, should restart operations for as long as another 20 years. The referendum was proposed by the opposition Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and passed in the legislature with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Its question reads: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns?” Supporters of the proposal argue that nuclear power
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month raised its travel alert for China’s Guangdong Province to Level 2 “Alert,” advising travelers to take enhanced precautions amid a chikungunya outbreak in the region. More than 8,000 cases have been reported in the province since June. Chikungunya is caused by the chikungunya virus and transmitted to humans through bites from infected mosquitoes, most commonly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These species thrive in warm, humid climates and are also major vectors for dengue, Zika and yellow fever. The disease is characterized by high fever and severe, often incapacitating joint pain.
In nature, there is a group of insects known as parasitoid wasps. Their reproductive process differs entirely from that of ordinary wasps — the female lays her eggs inside or on the bodies of other insects, and, once hatched, the larvae feed on the host’s body. The larvae do not kill the host insect immediately; instead, they carefully avoid vital organs, allowing the host to stay alive until the larvae are fully mature. That living reservoir strategy ensures a stable and fresh source of nutrients for the larvae as they grow. However, the host’s death becomes only a matter of time. The resemblance
RSS