The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday issued a statement condemning Beijing for interfering with Hong Kong’s judicial system and hounding pro-democracy campaigners, after Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) and two other student leaders of 2014’s “Umbrella movement” were sentenced to prison.
Wong was sentenced to six months in prison, Alex Chow (周永康) to seven months and Nathan Law (羅冠聰) to eight months.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the government of Hong Kong have been undermining the territory’s Basic Law by abusing legal interpretations, a trend that began with their move last year to disqualify pro-democracy lawmakers from the Hong Kong Legislative Council, the NPP said.
Photo: Huang Yao-hui, Taipei Times
The CCP has manipulated the Hong Kong judicial system to serve its own agenda and neutralize pro-democracy campaigners, threatening the last line of defense for the rule of law in the territory, it said.
“The NPP strongly condemns the actions and calls on the international community to countenance the situation regarding the rule of law in Hong Kong,” it said.
The CCP has brazenly violated international treaties and its pledge to not interfere with Hong Kong’s autonomy for 50 years to suppress pro-democracy movements and the people’s yearning for legitimate elections, the NPP said.
By giving prison sentences to pro-democracy campaigners, the court has stripped them of their right to political participation, it said.
The sentences are in violation of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Hong Kong’s legal guarantees for the freedom of assembly, it said.
“The last remnants of Hong Kong’s democracy and rule of law are under attack by China and they are in danger of being destroyed altogether,” the NPP said.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) told a routine news conference that the council regrets the ruling.
“It is the government’s unchanging position to support the people of Hong Kong in their pursuit of democracy, freedom, rule of law and human rights,” Chiu said.
“The council takes notice of the Hong Kong High Court’s ruling. We express our hope that the government of Hong Kong would respond to its people’s demands with positivity and tolerance, and conduct dialogue from a place of rationality, peace and patience to resolve their differences,” Chiu said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Xinyi A13 Department Store last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined at
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)