Hong Kong holds no elections and the territory has “lost the soul of freedom,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
The comments followed Ko’s remark during an overseas trip last week that “Hong Kong is boring.”
Ko later said that his description of Hong Kong as a “tiny, boring island” was intended to highlight that Taipei is a more enjoyable city.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Ko returned on Sunday last week concluded a trip to Malaysia, Thailand and India, where he promoted this year’s Summer Universiade, which will be held in Taipei in August.
Ko was yesterday addressing a gathering in Taipei to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Journalist magazine.
Ko said many nations in Southeast Asia “drool in envy” of Taiwan’s democracy and freedom.
He said Thailand has not held a single election in the three years since a military coup, and Malaysia and India struggles with religious and ethnic issues.
Ko also called Singapore “a caged canary.”
Gary Wong (黃梓謙), chairman of the Hong Kong-based Path of Democracy and a candidate in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council elections last year, was among the attendees at the gathering.
“As a politician ... Ko should have shown more humility and avoided making the impression that Taiwanese democracy was some grandiose achievement,” Wong said in response Ko’s remarks about Hong Kong.
Wong said Hong Kong’s prominent cultural figures are “disappointed” by Ko’s comments, adding that Ko needs to revise his comments regarding the territory.
Instead of passing judgement on other nations, Ko should evaluate other nations in the Asia-Pacific region in the context of their interdependence and learn from their experience, Wong said.
He said Ko’s talk about municipal administration had little to offer to Hong Kongers, because “many of the systems [in Taipei] were implemented in Hong Kong 20 years ago.”
Ko said Wong was “right about a lot of things” in reference to Taiwan’s tepid economic growth, saying “it is a fact that Taiwan’s GDP growth is only half of Singapore’s, and it is also a fact that Taiwan is not as internationalized as Hong Kong.”
He added that Taiwan’s greatest assets remain to be its pluralistic democratic society and its freedoms.
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