China appears ready to grant visas to Hong Kong democracy activists long barred from entering the mainland, a fresh sign of a thaw in frosty relations between Beijing and the city's pro-democracy camp.
In another conciliatory move, Chinese officials also initiated a friendly meeting with Joseph Zen (
Quoting unidentified sources, the Hong Kong Economic Times and Ming Pao dailies reported yesterday that China would soon issue visas to some Hong Kong democracy advocates in a goodwill move. The newspapers gave no names.
Beijing's top envoy in Hong Kong was also reported as saying that granting such visas was now a possibility.
Newspapers quoted Yang Wenchang (
He had been asked if democracy advocates who had been denied visas would now be able to visit mainland China.
Hong Kong's democracy activists have long been a thorn in Beijing's side and some have been barred from the mainland for more than a decade. However, both sides have made conciliatory gestures in recent weeks ahead of a pro-democracy protest march on Thursday, the seventh anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule.
Commenting on the march, Yang said Hong Kong people had the right to protest but they should exercise that right correctly.
Bishop Zen, who has urged the city's 6.8 million residents to join the march, said yesterday he had met Chinese officials on Friday at their invitation.
"We had a good, frank and friendly talk. The atmosphere was peaceful," Zen told reporters.
Organizers of the rally expect 300,000 people to demonstrate for the right to directly elect their own leader and all of their lawmakers from 2007, demands that Beijing rejected in April.
In a poll by Ming Pao, 40 percent of 86 respondents said they would join Thursday's march.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS