Beijing could request countries with which it has extradition agreements to deport Taiwanese to China to face criminal charges following the implementation of national security legislation for Hong Kong, a former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official warned yesterday.
Some developing countries, and those close to China because of the Belt and Road Initiative, are likely to accommodate Beijing’s requests to extradite Taiwanese to China, said former deputy MAC minister Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺), who served from July 2, 2018, until May 20, and then returned to his former post as an assistant professor of sociology at National Tsing Hua University.
While Taiwanese should be aware of this situation, they should not restrain their pursuit of freedom of speech, Chen said.
Photo: AFP
“If we remain silent about the situation in Hong Kong, we would be playing into Beijing’s hands. The more China oppresses freedom of speech, the more we should voice our support for Hong Kong,” he said.
The government should work with nations that share similar democratic values to speak up for Hong Kong’s freedom, he added.
That would help limit the horrible effects that the Hong Kong national security legislation would have, he said.
Tung Li-wen (董立文), a consultant for the Taiwan Thinktank, said that Taiwanese are in danger of being deported to China when they visit countries that have extradition agreements with Beijing.
The risk of deportation would be even higher if they travel to pro-Beijing countries that have underdeveloped legal systems, he added.
Extradition agreements generally do not apply to political cases and countries with well-established democratic systems would review extradition requests on a case-by-case basis, he said.
“Taiwanese need to be extra careful when they visit countries that have extradition agreements with Hong Kong,” Tung said.
An example of a person detained by Beijing abroad is Chinese-born Swedish citizen Gui Minhai (桂民海), one of the shareholders of Causeway Bay Bookstore in Hong Kong, who was kidnapped from his holiday home in Thailand in 2015 and reappeared in a video confession in China in 2016.
Gui in Febraury was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally providing intelligence overseas.
In cross-strait telephone scams run from a third country, Beijing has also requested host countries to extradite Taiwanese suspects to stand trial in China.
Article 38 of the Hong Kong National Security Law states that the law also applies to non-Hong Kong residents who contravene Chinese laws outside Hong Kong.
Australia, Canada and other countries have suspended the execution of their extradition agreements with Hong Kong due to the article.
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
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS