A standing executive from the Hong Kong Association for Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China is among those invited to attend the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) national congress today, a source said yesterday.
The source said that KMT Central Standing Committee member Chang Tsuo-min (張佐民) had sent invitations to Taiwanese living in Hong Kong, as well as other friends, to “visit Taiwan and cheer on the candidate, and to better understand the elections.”
Among those invited was Tong Lim-wa (湯麟華), who has studied at National Taiwan University (NTU) and is the honorary head of the Hong Kong NTU Alumni Association, as well as being a standing executive of the Hong Kong Association for Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China.
The Hong Kong group is considered a semi-Chinese government organization that aims to spread “united front” rhetoric through its branch offices across Asia, Africa and Europe, the source said.
The organization on its Web site condemned the protesters who defaced the Chinese national emblem outside Beijing’s representative office in Hong Kong on Sunday last week.
Tong told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) from Hong Kong yesterday that the group is not involved in the election, or the visit, in any way.
The 135 invitees arrived in Taiwan in three separate groups yesterday, with some arriving too late to actually attend the national congress, he said.
Tong said that he has arranged to visit the KMT’s Central Standing Committee tomorrow and would meet with the KMT’s presidential candidate, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), that afternoon.
As it is not yet election season, the visit poses no problems that could be addressed by the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) said.
People without Republic of China citizenship would have their visas canceled if their reasons for visiting are other than stated, Chen added.
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