Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday urged the Chinese and Hong Kong governments to make an unequivocal statement over the reported disappearances of several people working for a Hong Kong publishing house and a related bookstore.
“Democracy has become the inevitable trend of all nations. In light of the incidents [of missing people] in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong or Chinese governments must give the public a clear answer,” Chu said during street canvassing in Yunlin County yesterday morning.
Asked whether the missing persons case could set democratic alarm bells ringing in Taiwan, Chu said that the ideals of democracy and freedom are widely held among the international community.
Photo: Reuters
Democracy and freedom are particularly valued by Taiwanese, Chu added.
Chu’s remarks came one day after Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) dismissed allegations that outside agents could have been involved in the disappearance of five booksellers specializing in publications critical of China.
According to the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, five shareholders and employees of Causeway Bay Books — one of the few bookstores in Hong Kong that sells publications banned in China — have gone missing on separate occasions since October last year.
The alliance said it suspects that one of the shareholders, Lee Bo (李波), who disappeared in Hong Kong on Wednesday last week, could have been kidnapped by Chinese law enforcement officials.
On Monday, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) held a press conference deploring what it said was China’s disrespect for human rights and its deprivation of the right to freedom of expression.
The TSU also expressed concerns that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) China-leaning policies could see Taiwan go down the same path as Hong Kong.
Regarding the thorny issue of US pork imports containing ractopamine, Chu said that many consumer groups and pig farms in Yunlin, Pingtung and Chiayi counties have spoken strongly against the idea of lifting the import ban.
“We will surely respect their opinions. Of all the concerns they have brought up, they are most worried about the health impact of relaxing the ban,” Chu said.
Asked whether he agreed that supporting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is tantamount to supporting imports of ractopamine-laced US pork, Chu said that many pig farmers across the nation are of that opinion.
Chu has interpreted Tsai’s comment that Taiwan should consider Japan’s and South Korea’s standards for ractopamine in imported pork an indication that if elected, she would open up the nation to US pork containing ractopamine residue.
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