Hong Kong's decision to deny Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) a visa for a visit this week will likely damage the Chinese territory's image and help Ma's possible bid to be Taiwan's next president.
Ma's failure to get a visa so that he could accept a university's invitation to speak about cultural and municipal affairs was big news here the past few days.
The Taipei mayor is wildly popular in Hong Kong because of his good looks, fine manners and reputation for being a squeaky clean politician. During his last visit in 2001, packs of reporters and paparazzi followed him around like he was a rock star.
Ma's visa controversy will give new ammunition to critics of Hong Kong. They claim that civil liberties have been eroding since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" model.
The formula was supposed to guarantee capitalist Hong Kong a wide degree of autonomy along with civil liberties denied in the communist mainland.
But the skeptics -- including many Taiwanese -- claim the former British colony has become less free since returning to Chinese rule seven years ago.
The Taiwanese take great interest in Hong Kong because China wants the island's 23 million people to unify under a similar "one country, two systems" arrangement.
But the plan is extremely unpopular in Taiwan.
Ma's visa debacle will likely create new suspicions in Taiwan about how free Hong Kong really is.
Hong Kong officials have declined to explain Ma's visa rejection, saying they don't comment on individual visa cases. But it's widely assumed that Ma's visa troubles were linked to his recent criticism of China's proposed anti-secession law. The Chinese legislature plans to vote on the measure in March.
Taiwan says the law is designed to create a legal pretext for using military force to make the Taiwanese unify. And Ma recently said the law was unnecessary and unwise.
Beijing might have pressured Hong Kong to deny Ma's visa to keep him out of Hong Kong before lawmakers voted on the anti-secession law. Reporters would have definitely asked Ma about the issue, and he might have stirred up new debate about the proposal.
If Ma ignited new opposition to the law, this would have been embarrassing for Beijing and Hong Kong leaders. They'll probably wait until the anti-secession issue is settled and let Ma visit in April.
One reason Ma's visa rejection was big news in Hong Kong was that he has long been liked by Beijing. As a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Ma favors eventual unification and he has been critical of the pro-independence government.
Chinese leaders would celebrate if Ma were elected president in 2008. But Beijing's favor can be a curse for Taiwanese politicians. Candidates who are too friendly with China don't fare well in Taiwanese elections nowadays.
As a presidential hopeful, Ma's biggest challenge would be to convince voters that he wouldn't cut a quick deal with Beijing and sell out to China.
Now, Ma can point to his Hong Kong visa rejection as new proof that he's not Beijing's puppet.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
RSS