Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that the Chinese government should honestly face the reasons behind Hong Kong’s continuing protests.
Ko made the remark at Taipei City Hall when fielding questions from the media on a shooting incident that occurred in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Video recorded by Hong Kong student reporters showed a police officer shooting a pro-democracy protester at close range in the Tsuen Wan area, after a police unit was attacked by protesters wielding poles and umbrellas.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The Hong Kong Police Force later confirmed that a 18-year-old man was shot near the left shoulder and hospitalized.
Ko said when he heard about the incident, his first reaction came from his background as a surgeon — asking where the student was shot and if he is in a critical condition.
“A student shot by a police officer sounds very sensational, but of course we are concerned about the student’s health and safety,” Ko said.
“Thank goodness we heard that he is not in a critical condition, but if these clashes continue, an accidental shooting will be hard to avoid,” he said.
“This is really dangerous. Just think about it, if the student had been shot dead, the news would certainly make headlines around the world,” he said, adding that Beijing still has to face the real problems in Hong Kong, because there must be resentment in these young people that drives them to the streets.
Ko said high real-estate prices and rents in Hong Kong have led to exploitation, so Taiwan should also be aware of its rising housing prices and rents.
Hong Kong democracy campaigner Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) yesterday afternoon posted a screenshot of a TV news report about Ko’s remarks, and wrote that “using the term accidental shooting to describe Hong Kong police’s intended killing is an insult to the student that was shot.”
“The student is still hospitalized and in a critical condition,” Wong wrote. “Mayor Ko, you owe him an apology.”
He said Hong Kong is facing a serious humanitarian crisis and that the difficulty they are facing is also for demonstrating to the world that Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula is one of the greatest lies of the century.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS