July 1 marks the anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese control. Every year, this day is given to Hong Kong citizens as a holiday so they can "celebrate," but in 2003 about 1 million people used the day to demonstrate for democracy. Now, it has become a day for crowds of Hong Kongers to disregard the political climate in their city and demand democracy.
As July 1 neared this year, the Chinese government dispatched Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin (賈慶林) to Hong Kong. Jia announced 15 economic incentives for Hong Kong to reduce public interest in taking to the streets.
Nevertheless, 50,000 people still turned out to demonstrate on the afternoon of July 1, compared with 40,000 to 50,000 for the anniversary celebrations that were held in the morning.
In attendance at the democracy march was Yu Jie (
Furthermore, if Hong Kong were to gain suffrage, would other regions in China demand the right to vote as well?
In April, Xu Chongde (
The way the day's events were treated by Hong Kong's newspapers was interesting.
Three CCP papers ran stories about the celebrations on the front page, while four independent papers used their front page to report on the democracy demonstrations. Two of these covered the surprise appearance at the demonstrations of former chief secretary Anson Chan (陳方安生). Two other papers with high circulation ran headlines that were damaging to Chan and one paper avoided the issue, running World Cup coverage instead.
Recently, Beijing was angered when Richard Li (李澤楷), the second son of tycoon Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), tried to sell PCCW Limited to foreign financial groups. China accused him of forgetting the generosity it had shown him, as it had provided Li with financial support at the time of the firm's purchase, and China's state-owned ChinaNet had also become a shareholder.
It accused him of trying to profit from the preferential treatment the CCP had shown him, just as Chang Jung-fa (張榮發), chairman of the Evergreen Group, had done. It appears that the CCP doesn't give any thought to its "one country, two systems" policy, even on economic matters.
Beijing has also denied the Dalai Lama's request that Tibet be granted the same degree of political autonomy as Hong Kong, and has stepped up criticism of him. This is no doubt related to the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
While the pro-Chinese media in Hong Kong and Taiwan have been promoting the trip to Tibet as an incredible, scenic journey to the top of the world, foreign observers have expressed concerned about the environmental impact. Tibetans, meanwhile, are worried that with the influx of Chinese, they will lose their unique culture and religion.
The US and European countries have been able to profit from Chinese tourists. But will the disadvantaged Tibetan people avoid assimilation and preserve their Shangri-la?
Look at Hong Kong and Tibet, then think about Taiwan.
Paul Lin is a commentator based in Taipei.
Translated by Marc Langer
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS