The US, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have accused China of contravening its legally binding international commitments by ousting pro-democracy lawmakers from Hong Kong’s Legislative Council.
The foreign ministers of the five allies said that Beijing has gone against its 1984 promise to preserve autonomy in the territory after it was handed back to China in 1997.
The removal of four opposition lawmakers triggered the en masse resignation of their remaining colleagues, the latest move in a deepening crackdown against Beijing’s critics following last year’s huge and often violent democracy protests.
Photo: Reuters
“China’s action is a clear breach of its international obligations under the legally binding, UN-registered Sino-British Joint Declaration,” the nations said in a statement, reiterating individual remarks.
The foreign ministers said that the latest move appeared to be part of a “concerted campaign to silence all critical voices” in Hong Kong.
“For the sake of Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity, it is essential that China and the Hong Kong authorities respect the channels for the people of Hong Kong to express their legitimate concerns and opinions,” said the alliance, known collectively as the “Five Eyes.”
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) yesterday hit back against the accusation, calling it a “blatant violation of international law” and saying that “any attempt to exert pressure on China ... is doomed to fail.”
“No matter if they have five or 10 eyes, if they dare to damage China’s sovereignty, security and development interests, they should beware of being blinded,” Zhao said.
China’s leaders deny breaching their pre-handover promises and have said that Western powers have no right to interfere in how Hong Kong is run.
Only half of the legislature’s seats are elected by popular vote, a mechanism designed to ensure a permanent pro-Beijing majority.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS