Legislators and advocates yesterday proposed an amendment to the Act Governing Relations With Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例) and expressed the hope that the government would introduce punishments for officials from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) who violate the rights of the territories’ residents.
Members of the Economic Democracy Union and the Taiwan Citizen Front, along with legislators from pan-green parties, held a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
The groups said Article 60 of the act should be amended in light of the rapidly worsening situation in Hong Kong.
“Beijing’s passage of amendments to Hong Kong’s election laws on March 11 marked the end of Hong Kong’s autonomy and the ‘one country, two systems’ framework,” union secretary-general Chiang Min-yen (江旻諺) said.
The groups said their proposal was inspired by the US’ Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which took effect on Nov. 27, 2019.
“We hope that the law can be amended so that the Executive Yuan will be required to issue annual assessment reports on the economic and political situation in Hong Kong,” union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said.
Such a report would include assessments on the human rights situation in Hong Kong, Beijing’s influence on the political situation there and its effects on the freedom and safety of Taiwanese and Hong Kongers, and Beijing’s use of Hong Kong to infiltrate Taiwan, he said.
Independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) said he supported the proposal and hoped the amendment could serve as a Taiwanese version of the US’ Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.
The Magnitsky Act, enacted by the US Congress in 2016, allows the US government to sanction foreign government officials implicated in human rights abuses.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said the government has been helping Hong Kongers since 2019, but the worsening situation there has meant that the Taiwan-Hong Kong Services and Exchanges Office is limited in its capabilities.
An amendment is needed to better empower the government to help protect the rights of Taiwanese and Hong Kongers, he said.
DPP Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) echoed the calls for a Taiwanese version of the Magnitsky Act, saying that the US and several European countries have been taking action on Hong Kong, and that Canada and the UK were preparing to follow suit.
New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said the EU’s imposition of sanctions on Monday on four Chinese officials over human rights abuses in Xinjiang was evidence that China was being globally recognized as a threat to democracy, adding that Taiwan must join others in standing up to Beijing.
As Hong Kong and Macau have become no different from other Chinese cities, a preferential trade relationship with the two territories is no longer needed, he said.
Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) said that Beijing was demanding a show of patriotism to engage in business or politics in Hong Kong, but added that a country that conducts genocide is not deserving of patriotism.
Meanwhile, Taiwan-based Hong Kong human rights lawyer Sang Pu (桑普) said he was not optimistic about Hong Kong’s future.
Beijing’s Hong Kong Liaison Office has been relocating 150 mainland Chinese to Hong Kong every day to render the territory indistinguishable from any other Chinese city, he said.
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