Taiwan on Sunday condemned the arrest of two pro-democracy Hong Kong district councilors under the territory’s new national security legislation.
Hong Kong police arrested Yuen Long District Councilor Henry Wong Pak-yu (王百羽) and Kowloon City’s Timothy Lee Hin-long (李軒朗) on Sunday morning for allegedly exaggerating their election expenses.
Police have made a series of arrests of media figures and politicians under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which Beijing imposed on the territory in June, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), said in a statement.
The arbitrary detentions by Hong Kong police on national security grounds have infringed on Hong Kongers’ freedom and human rights, the commission said.
The Hong Kong government’s frequent use of national security legislation as a political tool to suppress political dissidents will only lead it to lose the hearts and minds of people and undermine its status as an international financial hub, the commission added.
It called on the authorities to exercise restraint and discontinue the oppression and coercion of opposition activists.
A D100 Internet radio channel host, Wan Yiu-sing (尹耀昇), also known as “Giggs” (傑斯) was on Saturday arrested for launching a campaign to raise money for people who had fled Hong Kong for Taiwan.
Three former lawmakers, Ted Hui, Ray Chan (陳志全) and Eddie Chu (朱凱迪), were arrested on Wednesday last week over a June incident in which a foul-smelling liquid was thrown in the territory’s Legislative Council.
Shatin District Councilor Li Chi-wang (李志宏) was arrested on Tuesday last week for allegedly acting in a disorderly way in public in May near Canal Road Flyover in Causeway Bay.
Li was previously arrested on May 24 during a rally in Causeway Bay against the National Security Law.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
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