Following a massive demonstration through central Hong Kong on Sunday, protesters yesterday gathered on Tim Wa Avenue outside Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s (林鄭月娥) offices, demanding that Lam unequivocally withdraw a controversial bill that would allow people arrested in the territory to be extradited to mainland China for trial. Many also called for Lam to fall on her sword.
Despite the massive protests that have rocked the territory, there are some in Taiwan — in politics and the media — who seem more interested in regurgitating the official line from Beijing than engaging with reality.
Although Lam on Saturday issued an apology and announced that her government would suspend the proposed amendments, Sunday’s march saw the largest turnout of the movement to date. Organizers claimed that 2 million attended at the march’s peak, although police estimates put the numbers considerably lower at 338,000. Irrespective of the true number, the anger of ordinary Hong Kongers was palpable, in no small part driven by the police’s use of tear gas, rubber bullets and bean bag rounds to disperse demonstrators during an earlier protest on Wednesday.
Sunday also saw more than 10,000 people rally outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to demand that the Hong Kong government withdraw the bill and release people arrested during the demonstration. Jointly organized by Hong Kong students, the Taiwan Citizen Front and the Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy, it was heartening to see so many Taiwanese — often unfairly accused of being apathetic toward international politics — come out in support of Hong Kong.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has said that even if Hong Kong’s Legislative Council were to pass the extradition bill, her government would not seek the extradition of a Hong Kong resident accused of murdering his girlfriend while on holiday in Taiwan — a case Lam has used to justify the bill.
It was a responsible, well-timed intervention and clearly had an impact: Lam cited it as a reason for suspending the proposal in her statement on Saturday.
Contrast this with Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) response: On June 9, when asked for his views on the events in Hong Kong, Han said: “I’m not clear [about that], I don’t know.”
It is difficult to imagine that Kuo was unaware of the protest in Hong Kong, when the first large-scale march was taking place in the territory on that day and making headlines around the world. It can only mean one of two things: Kuo was being disingenuous, or was genuinely oblivious to the events unfolding in Hong Kong — either way, it does not look good for a presidential aspirant.
New Power Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and Internet fitness celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢) have criticized Taiwan’s pro-China media — in particular singling out the Chinese-language China Times, owned by Want Want China Times Group — for either downplaying the protest marches or for spouting Beijing’s line that foreign forces are meddling in Hong Kong’s affairs. CtiTV News, a media affiliate, has also been accused of biased coverage of the events in Hong Kong.
Huang and Chen plan to hold a rally titled “Get lost, ‘red’ media” in Taipei on Sunday.
Despite pro-China voices attempting to influence public debate, there is a strong current of support in Taiwan for Hong Kong’s struggle to protect its freedoms. There is a simple reason for this: Taiwanese are acutely aware that today’s Hong Kong could be tomorrow’s Taiwan.
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
As China steps up a campaign to diplomatically isolate and squeeze Taiwan, it has become more imperative than ever that Taipei play a greater role internationally with the support of the democratic world. To help safeguard its autonomous status, Taiwan needs to go beyond bolstering its defenses with weapons like anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. With the help of its international backers, it must also expand its diplomatic footprint globally. But are Taiwan’s foreign friends willing to translate their rhetoric into action by helping Taipei carve out more international space for itself? Beating back China’s effort to turn Taiwan into an international pariah
Typhoon Krathon made landfall in southwestern Taiwan last week, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flooding, cutting power to more than 170,000 homes and water supply to more than 400,000 homes, and leading to more than 600 injuries and four deaths. Due to the typhoon, schools and offices across the nation were ordered to close for two to four days, stirring up familiar controversies over whether local governments’ decisions to call typhoon days were appropriate. The typhoon’s center made landfall in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) at noon on Thursday, but it weakened into a tropical depression early on Friday, and its structure
Since the end of the Cold War, the US-China espionage battle has arguably become the largest on Earth. Spying on China is vital for the US, as China’s growing military and technological capabilities pose direct challenges to its interests, especially in defending Taiwan and maintaining security in the Indo-Pacific. Intelligence gathering helps the US counter Chinese aggression, stay ahead of threats and safeguard not only its own security, but also the stability of global trade routes. Unchecked Chinese expansion could destabilize the region and have far-reaching global consequences. In recent years, spying on China has become increasingly difficult for the US
RSS