Hong Kong should offer the Taiwanese people a reasonable explanation as to why it refused to issue a visa to Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"We feel sorry about what happened to Mayor Ma and would like to point out that the incident clearly signifies the deterioration of Taiwan-Hong Kong relations and that the Hong Kong government should be held fully responsible for it," Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told a press conference held after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning.
PHOTO: CNA
While it remained unclear as to why the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region rejected Ma's visa application, speculation was rife that it was related to Ma's recent criticism of the "anti-secession law" the Chinese government is drafting.
Ma said that he himself did not know why the Hong Kong government rejected his visa application and that it would be a very "unwise decision" if it was because of his criticism of the "anti-secession law."
"Maybe the Hong Kong government doesn't want me to go because it's too cold," he said jokingly.
"If it had something to do my remark about the law, it would run counter to the Chinese government's intention to convince the Taiwanese people to trust the `one China, two systems' model," he said.
When asked whether he considered the incident to be suppression by the Chinese government, Ma said that he did not think so, but "it sure feels upsetting to be black-listed" by the Hong Kong government.
"Honestly speaking, I'm very much shocked by the fact that I cannot go back to my birthplace to attend a cultural activity related to city affairs," he said.
Hong Kong's Ming Pao Daily News quoted unidentified government officials as saying that Ma's visa was denied because he recently criticized China's proposed anti-secession law.
The paper added that the timing of Ma's visit would be too sensitive as China's legislature prepares to vote on the law in March.
Taiwan contends that the measure could be used as a pretext for an attack.
Ma has visited Hong Kong twice since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The politician is popular in Hong Kong because he was born there.
Ma favors eventual unification with China, and has been critical of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) efforts to create a new Taiwanese identity separate from China's. Chen is reviled by Chinese leaders.
Timothy Wong, a researcher at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at Chinese University of Hong Kong, said Ma's visa was rejected because Chinese authorities want to stamp out any ``inappropriate'' remarks on the planned anti-secession law.
"Beijing is escalating its pressure to the utmost level. There is no gray area," he said.
He added that China rejected Ma's visit to make clear that tensions across the Taiwan Strait remain serious.
"They don't want to send the message to the outside world that the severe situation of cross-straits relations has improved," he told a radio talk show yesterday.
According to a CNA story last night, Hong Kong's Constitutional Affairs Bureau director Stephen Lam (
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner