The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday urged President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to make clear its stance on the Hong Kong police’s arrests of 14 pro-democracy activists, including “father of democracy” Martin Lee (李柱銘), and offer assistance to prevent any possible infringement of their basic rights.
The NPP also urged the Hong Kong government and Beijing to exercise self-discipline and refrain from capitalizing on the COVID-19 pandemic to step up their political purge and quash dissent.
The Tsai administration should call on the international community to join it in condemning the Hong Kong government’s abuse of power in persecuting pro-democracy activists, the NPP said in a statement.
Photo: AFP
The Tsai administration should make clear its position on the incident and be ready to provide any assistance that the activists might need in the face of possible human rights breaches, it said.
The Legislative Yuan should consider passing a refugee act and amending Article 18 of the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例) to clearly define procedures when offering assistance to residents of the two territories who have been subjected to political persecution by their government, it added.
Separately, the Mainland Affairs Council said that the arrests were aimed at causing a chilling effect, which would not help to de-escalate tensions in the territory.
The Hong Kong government should heed the appeals of Hong Kong residents, respond to their expectations and guarantee them the right of assembly granted by the territory’s Basic Law, the council said.
Encouraging diversity, rather than quashing dissent, is the way to ensure long-term prosperity and stability in the territory, it said.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS