Taiwan has replaced Hong Kong as Asia’s “bastion of free speech,” as it has emerged as “one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies,” the New York Times said in an article published on Saturday.
Headlined “Asia’s Bastion of Free Speech? Move Aside, Hong Kong, It’s Taiwan Now,” reporters Chris Horton and Austin Ramzy wrote that Hong Kong used to be a haven for political fugitives and home to international media and rights groups in the Chinese-speaking world.
“In recent years, however, as Beijing has tightened its grip on the former colony, Hong Kong has been increasingly supplanted by Taiwan,” they wrote, adding that the shift was highlighted by Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) decision to open its Asian bureau in Taipei.
“Hong Kong was originally the first choice for the Asia bureau,” the article quotes Wuer Kaixi, an emeritus member of the RSF board, and one of the 1989 Tiananmen protest student leaders, who now lives in Taiwan. “But today China doesn’t just suppress its own people, it is now increasingly exporting that suppression to Hong Kong.”
The shift reflects Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) efforts to assert his control over China, including Hong Kong, the article says.
Horton and Ramzy talked to Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), one of the five men connected to a Hong Kong publishing house and bookstore who were abducted by Chinese security personnel in late 2016 and who is planning to reopen his bookshop in Taiwan.
“We Hong Kong people look to Taiwan for lessons,” Lam was quoted as saying. “And people in Taiwan look to see how the Chinese mainland controls Hong Kong.”
RSF Taipei bureau director Cedric Alviani told the newspaper that Taiwan has become an “island of stability” in a region where press freedoms are backsliding.
However, it also said that while Taiwan is relishing its new reputation, there have also been instances of it compromising on its political values to avoid angering Beijing, such as returning a Chinese activist seeking political asylum to China, or, citing Chinese journalist and author Zhao Sile (趙思樂), making it harder for Chinese activists to attend workshops or conferences in Taiwan.
Horton and Ramzy also talked to Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭), the widow of democracy pioneer Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), who told them that Taiwan’s freedoms were not guaranteed.
“We could lose our freedom of expression any time in the face of Chinese hegemony,” she told them.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS