Passage of the Hong Kong national security legislation by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee is regrettable, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said in a statement yesterday.
Through the legislation, Beijing has strongly demonstrated its adherence to the “one country” part of “one country, two systems,” but has “severely compressed” the spirit of “two systems,” which is key to maintaining Hong Kong’s development, the party said.
Passage of the legislation would inevitably add greater uncertainty to Hong Kong’s future, it added.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The “characteristics of Hong Kong’s development” and its residents’ “space for autonomy” should not be sacrificed just for political reasons, it said.
Beijing should exercise “wisdom” and “self-restraint,” it said, adding that the Chinese government should not intervene in the legislation’s enforcement or interfere with the independence of the territory’s judiciary.
Hong Kong’s legislative and judicial bodies should “firmly defend Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, [and] uphold the tradition of freedom,” it said.
Given that the legislation covers offenses committed against Hong Kong by people outside the territory who do not possess permanent Hong Kong residency, the Democratic Progressive Party government should “exhaust all possibilities to guarantee the basic rights and personal safety of Taiwanese,” it said.
The development of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong has “proven the excellence of the Republic of China’s democratic constitutional system,” and its value to Taiwan, the KMT said.
Beijing should recognize that “one country, two systems” has “no market in Taiwan and that the Republic of China has existed internationally for 109 years,” the KMT said, adding that Beijing should handle disputes over sovereignty across the Taiwan Strait peacefully and through peer-to-peer discussion.
At the weekly meeting of the party’s Central Standing Committee later in the day, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that the best way to rebuild the “fragile foundation of mutual trust” between Hong Kong and China was for Beijing to return the power to enact national security legislation to Hong Kong, and to “respect the high degree of autonomy of Hong Kong’s judiciary.”
The party opposes that the law expands its jurisdiction to offenses committed against Hong Kong from outside the territory by people who do not possess permanent Hong Kong residency, he said.
He called on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration to adopt a “pragmatic” and “effective” approach to assisting Hong Kongers, rather than “mere slogans.”
The KMT cannot accept Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) proposal of a “one country, two systems” model in Taiwan, Chiang said.
“Today’s Hong Kong will not become tomorrow’s Taiwan,” he added.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS