Hong Kong democracy campaigner Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) returned home yesterday after being deported from junta-run Thailand, where he was due at events commemorating a massacre of student activists, as his supporters blamed China for his detention.
The bespectacled Wong, 19, famed for his galvanizing role in the territory’s 2014 pro-democracy “Umbrella movement,” was held upon his arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
“At around 1am Hong Kong time, I arrived in Bangkok airport, around 20 police force and immigration department came and held my passport immediately,” an exhausted Wong, who flew back yesterday afternoon, told reporters waiting in the arrivals hall in Hong Kong.
Photo: AFP
Wong said he was forced into a cell in the airport police station for about 12 hours, with Thai authorities refusing to let him contact family or lawyers.
“When I asked them what is the reason for detaining me, they just say that we will not give you any explanation and you have been blacklisted already,” he added.
Demosisto, the political party cofounded by Wong this year, said it “strongly condemns the Thai government for unreasonably limiting Wong’s freedom and right to entry.”
Speculation swirled that Thailand’s military government was acting under pressure from China — a key ally that has lavished investment and diplomatic support on the junta following a 2014 coup.
Thai student activist Netiwit Chotipatpaisal, who invited Wong to speak in Thailand, said police had told him of a “letter from the Chinese government to the Thai government concerning this person.”
An airport immigration official confirmed there had been an “order” to detain Wong, but declined to say who issued it.
Wong had been due to speak at an event in Bangkok today marking the 40th anniversary of a massacre of pro-democracy students by security forces and royalist militias.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique