Hundreds of Hong Kongers yesterday rallied outside the territory’s representative office in Taipei to protest a proposed extradition law, which they said could further erode the territory’s autonomy.
The rally, organized by Hong Kong students and alumni of Taiwanese universities, drew about 500 protesters to the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office, including former Causeway Bay Books manager Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), who fled to Taiwan in April for fear of being extradited to China, event organizers said.
The Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Bill proposed by the Hong Kong government goes against public opinion and lacks legal basis, they said in a statement.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The bill and the manner in which the Hong Kong government has been trying to push it through at the expense of proper legislative procedures are “tyrannical,” they said.
If passed, the law would allow the Hong Kong government to extradite suspects to mainland China and to countries that are not signatories to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, such as North Korea and Iran, they said.
The Hong Kong government should immediately withdraw the bill and adhere to the principles of the “one country, two systems” framework, the Hong Kong Basic Law and international human rights law to ensure freedom and human rights are protected in the territory, they said.
The rally, which coincided with a demonstration in Hong Kong that drew tens of thousands of people to the streets, was part of a global campaign to oppose the bill, said Ho Wing-tung (何泳彤), a Hong Kong student from Chinese Culture University who planned the event in Taipei.
“We cannot be in Hong Kong today, but we hope to at least do something by holding this event,” she said.
An online petition that the group had launched to demand the withdrawal of the bill has received more than 620 signatures from Hong Kong students and alumni of Taiwanese universities, Ho said.
As a student of philosophy and art, she is concerned that the bill could lead to crackdowns on artistic expression, she said.
Chinese authorities have banned writers from using more than 50 characters to describe a kissing scene or depicting parts of the body below the neck, Ho added.
“If I am to work as an artist, perhaps I would not be able to paint nudes, or any part of the body below the neck, such as cleavage. Perhaps all I would be able to paint is just the eyes. I don’t know, but I would not want that to happen,” she said.
If passed, the law would affect Hong Kongers, Taiwanese and foreigners alike, Lam said.
People who visit Hong Kong for business or connecting flights could be arrested and tried in China under the law, he said.
Some young people in Hong Kong have already been arrested for opposing the government, he said.
“I wonder if they would have to run for their lives like me,” he said.
Selling books used to be legal in the territory, but he is now a wanted criminal, he said, adding: “I had no choice, but to leave.”
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS