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.
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