Hong Kong activist Ray Wong (黃台仰), who is visiting Taiwan to seek allies for Hong Kong’s independence movement, yesterday urged Taiwan to connect with people suppressed by China and to not to give up the goal of independence, despite the relative freedom the nation enjoys.
“Although Taiwan is the freest and most democratic Chinese-speaking nation, it cannot afford to be complacent about its status amid China’s threats, which could cause Taiwan to fall under [China’s] authoritarian rule,” Wong told a news conference in Taipei organized by the pro-independence Taiwan Radical Wings party.
Wong, a spokesman of pro-independence group Hong Kong Indigenous who is facing charges over his involvement in the territory’s “fishball revolution” in February, could become the Hong Kong independence movement’s first prisoner if convicted.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Over the past two weeks, Wong has visited Taiwanese independence advocates Su Beng (史明) and Chang Tsan-hung (張燦鍙) and held talks with pro-independence groups.
Taiwan, despite its relatively independent status, is in the same boat as Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, which are subject to China’s suppression, and it is critical to form an alliance against the Chinese threat, Wong said.
“Hong Kong is a good example for Taiwan. If Taiwan cannot stand firm against China, it might not escape China’s claws,” he said.
Although Beijing promised a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong under the “one country, two systems” framework, the territory has seen dramatic changes under China’s governance, which gave rise to pro-localization protests, including the “Umbrella movement” in 2014 and this year’s “fishball revolution,” he said.
Wong and fellow activist Edward Leung (梁天琦) founded Hong Kong Indigenous to promote Hong Kong’s independence and organize protests following the “Umbrella movement” and a campaign opposing China’s school curriculum revisions — protests that, according to Wong, failed because they were too peaceful.
“It is impossible to seek freedom in the established system, because China has deprived Hong Kong of political autonomy. Freedom cannot be attained without Hong Kong being separated from China,” he said.
“There is not much time left [before the ‘one country, two systems’ framework expires in 2047]. We can no longer count on peaceful protest,” he said.
More than 40 percent of young people in Hong Kong support independence, suggesting that it is not a dream, he added.
The oppression of people in Hong Kong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) resembles the persecution of Taiwanese under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, with the KMT and CCP having teamed up to suppress Taiwan’s democracy, World United Formosans for Independence chairman Chen Nan-tien (陳南天) said.
Taiwan and Hong Kong are in pursuit of the universal values of freedom, democracy and fair elections, and increased interaction between activists from both sides is necessary for independence movements to gather momentum, Chen said.
Taiwan Radical Wings Taipei office convener Ho Chen-hui (何澄輝) said Wong and his generation have shown great courage in the pursuit of democracy, despite Beijing’s military threats.
Asked whether Wong would approach the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) or government officials, Ho said that there was no such plan so far, but added that the DPP did not try to pressure Wong or avoid him, which has been unlike the KMT’s treatment of independence activists.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
MEDIA, SOCIETY FOCUS: Doublethink Lab said that Beijing is trying to coerce countries that rely on China economically to pursue policies in its favor China has stronger influence over Taiwan’s media and society than any other country, the Taipei-based Doublethink Lab think tank said yesterday, as it announced its China Index gauging Beijing’s global influence. Taiwan ranked 11th overall among 82 countries assessed, but first in terms of social and media influence, Doublethink Lab chairman Puma Shen (沈伯洋) told a news conference in Taipei. More than 200 experts and academics participated in the project, including some highly influential figures, Shen said. The index collects information from countries worldwide to gauge China’s influence and assess how Chinese policies affect them, Shen said. In terms of Chinese
RSS