Seven of the remaining eight personnel at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Hong Kong returned home yesterday after being ordered by the Hong Kong government to leave the territory by today after failing to obtain work visas.
The governments of Hong Kong and Macau suspended the operations of their representative offices in Taipei on May 18 and June 19 respectively, saying that Taiwanese authorities did not grant work visas to their employees.
Of the office’s five division heads, only Economy Division Director Ni Po-chia (倪伯嘉) remains, although his visa is to expire at the end of next month.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) in a statement yesterday said: “Since July 2018, the Hong Kong government has repeatedly set unreasonable political conditions whenever our employees applied for work visas, including requiring them to sign a pledge to observe the ‘one China’ policy. This made it impossible for our employees to assume office or continue to stay in Hong Kong. As such, there would be an adjustment in the businesses handled by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong, starting June 21,” the council said.
“Using the ‘one China’ policy as a barrier, Beijing and Hong Kong have disrupted staff rotation and operations at Taiwan’s office in Hong Kong. They unilaterally contravened terms of the agreement between Taiwan and Hong Kong that was signed in 2011. They are solely responsible for damaging Taiwan-Hong Kong relations, and hurting the welfare and interests of people in Taiwan and in Hong Kong,” it added.
“We adamantly refuse to accept the political suppression from Beijing and the Hong Kong government to force our employees to sign a ‘one China’ pledge, and severely warn and condemn them for the unreasonable move,” the council said.
It thanked the employees at the office for carrying on with their duties despite the political pressure.
The adjustment would ensure that the office would continue providing services to people without compromising quality, the council said, adding that it hoped that people in Taiwan can understand and support the council.
Taiwan’s relations with Hong Kong have deteriorated since 2018, when the two failed to settle legal issues over the extradition of Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳), a Hong Konger who reportedly confessed to murdering his girlfriend while on holiday in Taiwan. The two governments have yet to resolve the issues.
The case prompted the Hong Kong government to stipulate a now-scrapped extradition bill, which would have facilitated the transfer of fugitives on the order of the chief executive to any jurisdiction with which the territory lacks a formal extradition treaty.
However, the inclusion of China in the bill sparked year-long protests, as Hong Kongers feared it would further erode the distinction between the territory’s judicial system and the one administered by the Chinese Communist Party, and legitimize extraditions of political dissidents to China.
Taiwan’s support for the pro-democracy protests enraged the Hong Kong government. It suspended the operations of its office in Taiwan, accusing the nation of “rudely intervening in the internal affairs of Hong Kong.”
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),
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
The zero emissions ship Porrima P111 was launched yesterday in Kaohsiung, showcasing the nation’s advancement in green technology, city Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. The nation last year acquired the Swiss-owned vessel, formerly known as Turanor PlanetSolar, in a bid to boost Taiwan’s technology sector, as well as ecotourism in Palau, Chen said at the ship’s launch ceremony at Singda Harbor. Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also attended the event. The original vessel was the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate the globe in a voyage from 2010 to 2012. Taiwan-based Porrima Inc (保利馬) installed upgrades with
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese