The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday denied an accusation by the Hong Kong-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Co-operation and Promotion Council that its Taiwanese counterpart in the territory was “interfering with Hong Kong’s internal affairs.”
The Hong Kong council leveled the accusation after Taipei’s Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council this month announced it would establish a Taiwan-Hong Kong Services and Exchanges Office to facilitate humanitarian aid for Hong Kongers.
The new office is scheduled to begin operations on Wednesday.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The MAC yesterday asked the Hong Kong council to “not misinterpret” the government’s intentions.
The two Taiwan-Hong Kong councils were established in 2010 to facilitate economic and cultural exchanges.
They held annual exchanges for several years following their establishment, but ties have grown cold in the past few years, a source said.
The Hong Kong council yesterday criticized its similarly named Taiwanese counterpart, saying it had “unilaterally decided” to establish the humanitarian unit.
The office “runs counter to the intention in establishing” the two councils, it said.
“Providing shelter to rioters who destroy the stability of a prosperous Hong Kong is harmful to the people of Taiwan and provides them with no benefit,” it said.
It “strongly demanded” that the Taiwan council not do anything that “does not conform with” its purpose, it added.
It would not communicate with the Taiwan council on any of the actions being taken by the office, it said.
The MAC said that Taiwan’s concerns about the situation in Hong Kong echoed those of the international community.
However, Taipei has never sought to interfere in Hong Kong’s affairs, the MAC said.
The new office’s purpose was to assist Hong Kongers with issues related to investment, study and employment in Taiwan, and emigration to Taiwan, the MAC said.
The issues were being handled within the scope of Taiwanese law and on the basis of humanitarian considerations, it said.
The office’s efforts would conform with the intentions behind the establishment of the Taiwan council, the MAC said, adding that Hong Kong authorities should work with Taiwanese authorities in the interest of the rights of Taiwanese and Hong Kongers.
Taiwanese authorities hope that Taiwan-Hong Kong relations would improve, but the Hong Kong council had unilaterally put off joint conferences, which harmed ties and cooperative efforts by the two councils, the MAC said.
The Hong Kong government should not, on the basis of unreasonable political considerations, interfere with the Taiwan council’s operations, it said.
This story has been amended since it was first published.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS