Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) rejection of his application to travel to Hong Kong was the result of a baseless “presumption of guilt” that he would leak confidential information during his visit, adding that he would still apply to visit Hong Kong in the future.
Speaking at a news conference in Taipei, Ma gave a brief review of his prerecorded speech for the Society of Publishers in Asia’s (SOPA) Awards for Editorial Excellence ceremony in Hong Kong on Wednesday before taking questions from reporters.
Asked if he had deliberately chosen to embarrass Tsai by asking to visit a politically charged area controlled by China for his first visit after leaving office, Ma said that he did not pick the location or the date for the event.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
He challenged the government’s citation of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) to restrict him from traveling, saying it does not stipulate a period during which a former head of state must not leave the country after leaving office.
He said that SOPA is a neutral organization formed by journalists and it does not belong to either China or Hong Kong; therefore, any topic discussed at its events can be safe from skewed interpretations.
Ma said he was dumbfounded to learn that he had been denied permission to travel even though he went to great lenghts to simplify his itinerary and promised to return in seven hours.
He said that his forgoing the opportunity to promote exchanges with a major East Asian economic hub was a loss for both sides.
Ma said there was nothing sensitive about his itinerary, urging Tsai not to see things through “colored lenses.”
He said that he would not avoid visiting Hong Kong in the future.
He said that Tsai denied his application based on a presumption of guilt, but that Tsai had no proof that he had leaked classified information, nor did Tsai have any proof that he intends to do so.
The former president also took issue with Tsai’s reason that an intergovernmental panel needed more time to ascertain how much national security classified data he had handled.
“This does not need investigating. I know quite a lot. Just assume that I know all of them,” he said.
He repeated several times at the press conference that actions such as Tsai’s rejection of his travel application risk undermining the nation’s democratic system and freedom.
Ma dismissed questions about whether he deliberately left out Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣書店) — referring to five missing Hong Kong booksellers who were detained in China — and made little mention of press freedom in his speech to dial down his criticism of Beijing.
Ma said his recent criticism of China’s bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989 proved otherwise, adding that he was the only Republic of China president that has commented on the June 4 massacre on 27 occasions.
The Presidential Office said it rejected Ma’s application after completing an evaluation based on the Classified National Security Information Protection Act. The decision was made in accordance with the law and was explained to the public and Ma.
The office said it had no comment on Ma’s opinions.
However, Ma’s speech drew sharp criticism from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and activists.
Ma reiterated the importance of the so-called “1992 consensus” and criticized US intervention in the South China Sea issue, but did not mention the issue of deteriorating human rights in Hong Kong, DPP lawmakers said.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means. Former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2000 admitted to making up the term.
“Ma did not express his support for Hong Kong singer-actress Denise Ho [何韻詩], who has been facing persecution, or for freedom of the press by talking about the Causeway Bay Books incident,” DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. “He certainly does not care about democracy, freedom and human rights.”
DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said Ma “only spoke about his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping [習近平] and advocated the ‘1992 consensus,’” but did not touch on human rights.
Apparently, Ma is speaking in Beijing’s favor, and those are the only things he cares about, Wang said.
Ma’s comments also drew a response from Hong Kong student activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒). Ma had mocked the Presidential Office’s reasoning that it had rejected his application because the government might not be able to secure Ma’s personal safety in the territory. Ma said he did not know that Hong Kong is such a dangerous place.
Wong said on Facebook that Hong Kong is indeed a dangerous place, where demonstrators have been beaten up by police or jailed, while some dissidents have simply disappeared.
It is Ma’s problem if he does not know Hong Kong is a dangerous place, but the fact is “Hong Kong people have been living in fear,” Wong said.
Sunflower movement student leader Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), who has been denied entry into Hong Kong, said that he had tried applying for a permit to visit Hong Kong via the Internet, but again failed.
“Do not be sad, former president Ma, for not being able to go to [Hong Kong]. Maybe it is because you have just stepped down as president, but for us, we may only have the opportunity [to go to Hong Kong] when the Chinese Communist Party regime collapses,” Lin said.
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