Taiwan yesterday urged China to provide information on the whereabouts of a Taiwanese activist who went missing after joining pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong this month.
Morrison Lee (李孟居) traveled to Hong Kong for a vacation on Aug. 18 and attended one of the anti-extradition bill protests, Fangliao Township (枋寮) Mayor Archer Chen (陳亞麟) told Bloomberg News.
Lee serves as an unpaid adviser to the Pingtung County township, Chen said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
Lee was scheduled to travel to Shenzhen, China, for business two days later.
Lee’s family said that they have not heard from him since he entered China, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) told a news briefing in Taipei yesterday.
Taiwan has asked Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to help look for Lee, but the Chinese authorities have not responded, Chiu said earlier in the day.
Beijing is required by bilateral agreements to inform Taipei if a Taiwanese is detained in China, but the government had not received any communication so far, he said.
Travelers to Hong Kong should keep a close eye on local reports regarding demonstrations and try to avoid protest areas, the council said, adding that it has posted a chart of planned protests in the territory on its Web site, which would be continuously updated.
It also warned that travelers going from Hong Kong into mainland China could face more stringent security and luggage checks by Chinese customs officers, as media reports have said that officers are demanding to see the contents of cellphones and laptops.
The council’s branch office in Hong Kong has established a task force to provide round-the-clock service, and any citizen encountering problems in Hong Kong — or their immediate relatives — should call the emergency number 852-6143-9012, the council said.
Citizens in China requiring assistance or their relatives should contact the Straits Exchange Foundation at its 24-hour emergency line (02) 2533-9995, it added.
Separately, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said that the government would receive visiting Hong Kongers without contravening the Act Governing Hong Kong and Macau Affairs (香港澳門關係條例).
The government continues to support the territory’s residents in their pursuit of democracy and freedom, but it would not intervene in the matter, Ou said in a statement, reiterating comments she made at a news conference on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Tourism Bureau has told all authorities that maintaining travelers’ rights is a priority when handling any disputes with travel agencies regarding refunds due to cancelations of tours or travel plans as a result of the Hong Kong protests.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua, Lin Chia-nan and staff writer Jake Chung
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS