Taiwanese academics and Hong Kong students find it hard to agree with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), who said yesterday on the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China that the “one country, two systems (一國兩制)” design was “the best solution.”
“Are Hong Kong people happy with the arrangement after 15 years? It appears the answer is negative,” said Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), a professor at National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung. “While Hong Kong is a designated Special Administrative Region, its people know very well that Beijing is the boss and calls all the shots. People have no say in direct elections or over the influx of Chinese citizens.”
Lin observed that Hong Kongers’ attitudes toward China and Taiwan have changed drastically since the handover.
Hong Kongers used to be proud of their advanced economic and educational development, he said, adding that now Hong Kongers “feel inferior to Beijing and envy the democratic system Taiwanese enjoy.”
Lin warned that China has been using similar strategies to incorporate Taiwan with its “invisible influence,” such as economic measures and promotion of Zhonghua culture (中華文化).
In the short term, Beijing might be upset with Taiwanese people’s increasing support for independence, he said.
“However, its united front effort may be able to turn things around in the long term, which is a serious concern for us,” he added.
Political analyst Paul Lin (林保華), who lived in Hong Kong between 1976 and 1997, expressed similar concerns, saying Zhonghua culture is dangerous because of its lack of the concepts of freedom, law and democracy.
With the example of Hong Kong, he warned Taiwanese people against holding any delusion about “Chinese democracy” and lowering their guard to Beijing.
Public opinion polls showed that Hong Kongers under the age of 29 expressed the least support and had the most complaints about the handover because “it was not their decision.”
The Hong Kong case has taught us a lesson that we should make responsible decisions for future generations, Lin said.
Young Hong Kongers showed frustration in their observations about what had happened in the former British colony during the past decade.
“Beijing promised the system in Hong Kong would remain unchanged for 50 years, but this has not been the case,” Jessie Tam, who graduated from National Taiwan University’s graduate school last month, said.
While most young Hong Kongers pay little attention to politics, they did see some uncomfortable changes in the education system and social order, she said, adding that the influx of pregnant and job-seeking Chinese had caused serious resource distribution problems in Hong Kong.
The capital flow from China may have helped Hong Kong’s economy and employment, but it also created fierce competition with streams of job-seeking Chinese, Tam added.
A Hong Kong tourist in Taiwan, who gave her first name as Helen, said that increasing housing prices and stagnant wages are among the most common complaints of Hong Kongers who were born after 1980.
Hong Kong-based Angle Woo expressed concern about the worsening situation for freedom of speech, the wealth gap, increasing housing prices and stagnant wages, saying that young people “can’t see where their future lies” because of the Hong Kong government’s lack of vision.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS