Hong Kong Democratic Party founder and attorney Martin Lee (李柱銘) yesterday in Taipei said that Beijing is deviating from the “one country, two systems” framework originally proposed by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) and China’s tight grip on the territory would only discourage Taiwanese from seeking unification.
“Since Beijing issued the 2014 white paper on Hong Kong, it has been implementing the ‘one country, two systems’ framework in a way that completely contradicted [Deng’s] original vision,” Lee told a Taipei news conference held by the Friends of Hong Kong and Macau Association.
Seeing the way the framework has been implemented in Hong Kong, “of course Taiwanese would be uninterested in it,” he added.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
While Deng envisioned a system that would allow Hong Kong to remain highly autonomous, the white paper asserts that Beijing has “complete jurisdiction” over the territory, Lee said.
Beijing’s attempts to “control everything would not work,” as Hong Kongers deeply value democracy, the rule of law and freedom, he said.
He urged Beijing to step back from trying to maintain “complete jurisdiction” over the territory and to return to Deng’s vision of the “one country, two systems” framework.
“I completely support the ‘one country, two systems’ framework, which is in line with the agreement [between China and Britain] and the Basic Law. I just want Beijing to give us real elections,” Lee said.
By allowing democracy in Hong Kong, Beijing would be giving the framework a chance, he said.
“Currently, there is no democracy. Hong Kong’s chief executives always follow Beijing’s instructions. They do not have much of their own opinion and always side with the central government on major policies,” Lee said.
“If Hong Kong and Beijing have confidence in each other, the framework should work and Taiwanese would be more convinced that it could work for them too,” he said. “However, if Hong Kong and Beijing cannot trust each other, and the latter keeps a firm hand on the territory, it would be bad for cross-strait unification.”
Asked about his view on cross-strait relations, Lee said he believes bringing about unification under the “one country, two systems” framework would be “difficult,” because Taiwan has been holding its own elections for years.
Taiwan and Beijing should first engage in dialogue to build mutual trust, he said.
“Once there is mutual trust, you can discuss anything. Without it, it would be very difficult to solve Taiwan’s problem,” he said.
Working on building mutual trust with Hong Kong and allowing democracy would not only encourage Taiwanese to consider unification, but also show the world that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is not an authoritarian, Lee said.
“I really believe that, as a strong country, China should try and show the world — not just Taiwan or Hong Kong — that it is a reformer, not an authoritarian country,” he added.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS