With the passing of the third anniversary of the 2019 Yuen Long attack in Hong Kong — also known as the 721 incident — street protests have disappeared with the introduction of the National Security Law. Books dealing with sensitive issues have vanished at book fairs. The chilling effect has spread to the Internet, where people have been forced to use obscure expressions when criticizing collusion between police and gang members.
Three years ago, suspected white-clad triad members armed with weapons launched vicious attacks, beating citizens, passersby, reporters and even pregnant women as police stations closed their doors to the public.
It was the ambushed citizens who were sent to jail while the white-clad attackers walked free to enjoy the riches lavished on them by the Chinese government. Justice and rule of law became history, as well as Hong Kong’s once-thriving economy and status as an international financial center. All that was left were the trauma and scars etched in Hong Kong citizens’ hearts.
This month, bank protests in China’s Henan Province proved that history does repeat itself. Police once again stood by and watched white-clad triad members rough up demonstrators. The only difference was that the victims were bank depositors fighting for their rights to withdraw their savings. These issues, of course, are all part the Chinese government’s agenda.
Surprisingly, this kind of outrageous incident also took place in Miaoli County’s Zaoqiao Township (造橋). As the county government has not imposed measures to address the controversial Kunyu landfill site project, residents without legislative and administrative protections were forced to form a self-help group dedicated to battle against project developer Pacific Ecology Co, as if they were living in a barbaric, lawless land.
On Thursday last week, protesters said that the company had hired gangsters to attack them while Miaoli County police guarding the site did not protect them. Victims, including city councilors and legislators, were beaten up by black-clad people while the police — who were supposed to offer protection — stood by and even let self-proclaimed “security officers” escape while they used riot shields on innocent citizens.
What these incidents have in common is the corruption embedded in Chinese culture.
Although Taiwan is a democratic country, Miaoli County’s government has always been run by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). The KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have been known for colluding with gangsters.
For autocrats who have a penchant for violence and a disdain for law and order, gangsters are the most effective means to secure the interests of authorities, developers, landowners and shareholders. Their interests often come from the illegal contravention of people’s rights, and after various participants reap benefits from the collusion between government and business, the gangs “take over” to clean up the mess.
Hong Kong’s Wang Chau housing controversy in 2012, the Henan bank protests and the Kunyu landfill site controversy share many similarities, including abuse of power.
Corruption runs deep in China, while in Hong Kong’s political system, citizens have no means to expose or take down the government-business interest groups via legal procedures.
In a democratic society like Taiwan, however, with the supervision of the fourth estate, the central government should act to address the issue, as this marks the greatest difference between a democratic country and an authoritarian regime.
Hong Tsun-ming, originally from Hong Kong, is director of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party’s Yilan County branch.
Translated by Rita Wang
In the US’ National Security Strategy (NSS) report released last month, US President Donald Trump offered his interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine. The “Trump Corollary,” presented on page 15, is a distinctly aggressive rebranding of the more than 200-year-old foreign policy position. Beyond reasserting the sovereignty of the western hemisphere against foreign intervention, the document centers on energy and strategic assets, and attempts to redraw the map of the geopolitical landscape more broadly. It is clear that Trump no longer sees the western hemisphere as a peaceful backyard, but rather as the frontier of a new Cold War. In particular,
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) races toward its 2027 modernization goals, most analysts fixate on ship counts, missile ranges and artificial intelligence. Those metrics matter — but they obscure a deeper vulnerability. The true future of the PLA, and by extension Taiwan’s security, might hinge less on hardware than on whether the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can preserve ideological loyalty inside its own armed forces. Iran’s 1979 revolution demonstrated how even a technologically advanced military can collapse when the social environment surrounding it shifts. That lesson has renewed relevance as fresh unrest shakes Iran today — and it should
As the new year dawns, Taiwan faces a range of external uncertainties that could impact the safety and prosperity of its people and reverberate in its politics. Here are a few key questions that could spill over into Taiwan in the year ahead. WILL THE AI BUBBLE POP? The global AI boom supported Taiwan’s significant economic expansion in 2025. Taiwan’s economy grew over 7 percent and set records for exports, imports, and trade surplus. There is a brewing debate among investors about whether the AI boom will carry forward into 2026. Skeptics warn that AI-led global equity markets are overvalued and overleveraged
RSS