A meeting between Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and the head of China’s liaison office in Hong Kong has incurred criticism from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who said it could give the impression that Beijing’s “one country, two systems” model might be applicable to Taiwan. Han was also criticized by several pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmakers, who slammed what they called an endorsement of China’s “distorted implementation” of the framework.
Han is leading a 28-member delegation on a visit to Hong Kong, Macau and the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Xiamen to promote trade before returning to Kaohsiung on Thursday next week.
On Friday, he met with Chinese Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Director Wang Zhimin (王志民). The meeting was not included in the itinerary published by Han’s office prior to the trip.
Photo: CNA
Tsai, who was in Palau on a state visit to three Pacific allies, yesterday said that the office is a key organization responsible for China’s implementation of the “one country, two systems” framework in Hong Kong.
Arranging a visit by Han to the office might have been designed to create an atmosphere of “one country, two systems,” she said.
“I am not sure if Mayor Han was aware of this [possibility],” Tsai said.
Shortly after news emerged of the meeting on Friday, Hong Kong lawmakers Eddie Chu (朱凱廸), Au Nok Hin (區諾軒), Leung Yiu-chung (梁耀忠) and Fernando Cheung (張超雄) issued a statement denouncing Han’s visit.
Han has repeatedly claimed that the purpose of his visit to Hong Kong is only to promote Kaohsiung’s products, a reason he has used to refuse any politically related questions from the media, they said.
“According to the ‘one country, two systems’ principle and the Hong Kong Basic Law, trade between Kaohsiung and Hong Kong definitely falls within the mandate of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and has nothing to do with the liaison office,” the statement said.
The office has served as the de facto “emperor” behind the Hong Kong government, serving as a channel for Beijing to maintain a high level of control over the territory, the lawmakers said, adding that it is responsible for the “distorted implementation” of the formula in Hong Kong over the past few years.
Out of respect for Hong Kong’s autonomy, no foreign dignitaries had visited the head of the office after meeting with the territory’s chief executive, they said.
“Han breaking the customary rule is clearly the result of Beijing’s carefully calculated arrangement. In the eyes of Hong Kongers, the meeting constitutes an endorsement of the distorted ‘one country, two systems’ framework and made [Han] an accessory to a tyrant’s crimes,” the statement said.
Hong Kong pro-democracy party Demosisto Secretary-General Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) issued an open letter to Han, urging him to take the territory’s experience with the “one country, two systems” framework as a warning and to make an effort to protect the freedom and rights of the people of Kaohsiung and Taiwan.
Demosisto member Nathan Law (羅冠聰), who was a leading activist in the “Umbrella movement,” called Han’s meeting with Wang a “devil’s deal,” saying that Taiwan might face a fate similar to Hong Kong’s if it establishes links with the office.
It would be far harder for Taiwan’s democratic system to withstand the infiltration of China’s “sharp power” if the office is able to find a Taiwanese proxy to help it blaze a political and economic trail, he said.
Asked about concerns caused by his meeting with Wang, Han yesterday said that there was nothing to worry about, as the main purpose of his trip is to sell Kaohsiung’s agricultural products.
Kaohsiung must open its mind and seize every possible business opportunity, he added.
Additional reporting by Su Yung-yao and Ko Yu-hao
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
INTENSIFYING THREATS: Beijing’s tactics include massive attacks on the government service network, aircraft and naval vessel incursions and damaging undersea cables China is prepared to interfere in November’s nine-in-one local elections by launching massive attacks on the Taiwanese government’s service network (GSN), a report published by the National Security Bureau showed. The report was submitted to the Legislative Yuan ahead of the bureau’s scheduled briefing at the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The national security team has identified about 13,000 suspicious Internet accounts and 860,000 disputed messages, the bureau said of China’s cognitive warfare against Taiwan. The disputed messages focus on major foreign affairs, national defense and economic issues, which were produced using generative artificial intelligence (AI) and distributed through Chinese
COUNTERING HOSTILITY: The draft bill would require the US to increase diplomatic pressure on China and would impose sanctions on those who sabotage undersea cable networks US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill to bolster the resilience of Taiwan’s submarine cables to counter China’s hostile activities. The proposal, titled the critical undersea infrastructure resilience initiative act, was cosponsored by Republican representatives Mike Lawler and Greg Stanton, and Democratic Representative Dave Min. US Senators John Curtis and Jacky Rosen also introduced a companion bill in the US Senate, which has passed markup at the chamber’s Committee on Foreign Relations. The House’s version of the bill would prioritize the deployment of sensors to detect disruptions or potential sabotage in real-time and enhance early warning capabilities through global intelligence sharing frameworks,
RSS