Human rights campaigners yesterday called for amendments to the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例) to facilitate asylum applications from there.
The call was made at a news conference in support of yesterday’s protests in Hong Kong, which marked the anniversary of the territory’s return to Chinese control.
“Taiwan should act as an ark for human rights as the people of Hong Kong and China face persecution,” Taiwan Association for China Human Rights chairman Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏) said, praising the passage of amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) in the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee on Monday.
The news conference was attended by lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the New Power Party.
Yang said the amendments will ease asylum applications for Chinese facing persecution by removing the requirements that they hold official Chinese papers and enter Taiwan legally.
However, amendments to the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau are needed to allow for similar asylum conditions to applicants from the two territories, he said, urging the swift passage of proposed amendments sponsored by DPP legislators Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) and Wellington Koo (顧立雄).
Koo said that while the act contains provisions requiring the government to provide “necessary help” to residents of Hong Kong and Macau whose safety and freedom are threatened for political reasons, new provisions are necessary to improve their residency rights.
Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kei (林榮基) has said he would choose Taiwan if he is eventually forced to seek political asylum.
Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) last month said that a new legal mechanism would be needed to process an application from Lam if he sought to enter Taiwan for reasons other than tourism.
“Our hearts are with the people of Hong Kong today, because we face a similar threat; we also fear that our freedoms will be violated or stripped away,” Taiwan Citizen Media Cultural Association executive director Sylvia Feng (馮賢賢) said. “Our government should not drop its hands when dealing with people from China, Hong Kong or Macau who face political persecution because we are afraid of Chinese pressure. Maintaining the ‘status quo’ does not mean maintaining a ‘status quo’ in which freedoms face ever greater restrictions.”
“What has happened in Hong Kong could also end up happening here,” said Chris Su (蘇南洲), director of the Christian Arts Press, which prints Christian literature for the underground market in China, adding that an associate had been temporarily detained at a Chinese airport for his firm’s publication of “anti-revolutionary materials” regarding Hong Kong’s social movement, while a Hong Kong publisher was given a 10-year sentence for publishing a book by a banned author his firm also carries.
“I have published 10 books by that author. Does that mean I deserve a 100-year sentence?” he said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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