China justified interpreting parts of Hong Kong's mini-constitution as parliament's "solemn duty" yesterday as lawmakers entered a final day of deliberations before putting a draft to a vote.
Delegates agreed yesterday on the draft interpretation of electoral reforms laid down in Hong Kong's "Basic Law" and were expected to endorse it today.
It is expected to be general in substance and limited to one piece of paper.
Beijing has hosted closed-door deliberations on articles of the law that critics fear will hand China full control over whether and when people in the former British colony may elect their leaders.
China said the leaders of the National People's Congress, or parliament, had to interpret two clauses that set out how the territory's chief executive and lawmakers are chosen because of disputes and confusion in Hong Kong.
Police in Hong Kong broke up an anti-Beijing protest on Friday.
"If such misunderstandings are not clarified by law, the right not differentiated from the wrong and interference not removed, the principle of `one country, two systems' could not be implemented in an all round-way," the China Daily newspaper said yesterday, referring the principle under which the territory was guaranteed wide-ranging autonomy at the 1997 handover.
An editorial by the official Xinhua news agency said the interpretation would "do away with doubts, quell disputes, reach common social consensus, better implement the Basic Law, ensure sound development of Hong Kong's constitutional system and maintain the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong."
The US State Department said on Friday it "strongly supported" the desire of the people in the territory for democracy, electoral reform and universal suffrage.
China and Hong Kong promptly retorted that the territory's constitutional development was none of Washington's business.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS