The state of China’s “one country, two systems” framework will be further demonstrated in whether Beijing suppresses or allows Hong Kong’s candlelight vigil this year to mark the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said on Thursday.
For 32 years, an annual vigil was held in Hong Kong for victims of the 1989 military crackdown in Beijing, but the organizing group was disbanded following the arrest of numerous democracy advocates in Hong Kong after the territory enacted the National Security Law on June 30, 2020.
The disbanding of the organizing group had been seen to signal the collapse of the framework under which China had promised to safeguard the territory’s freedoms and autonomy, Chiu said.
Photo: Reuters
Chiu called on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to respect the terms of the framework and to allow Hong Kongers to exercise freedom of expression and assembly.
China has been growing more repressive over the past few years, showing that the CCP has not learned from mistakes in handling the student protests in Tiananmen Square in June 1989, which were quashed by a massacre of protesters by the Chinese military.
Civic groups in Taiwan are again planning activities this year to commemorate the massacre, and an international nongovernmental organization is planning a commemorative stage play, he said.
“We hope that through various ways, people from all walks of life will pay more attention to the issues of democracy and human rights in China,” he said. “If the Chinese authorities are to continue speaking of ‘one country, two systems,’ they should respect Hong Kongers’ freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.”
Taiwan is the only democracy with a majority Chinese population where people can freely commemorate the massacre, he said.
“The council will continue to monitor the human rights situation in China, and will work to safeguard Taiwan as a beacon of the Chinese world,” he said.
A coalition of civic groups on Saturday said they would hold activities to commemorate the June 4 massacre at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei.
Overseas Chinese democracy advocates are also planning to hold a global commemoration of the massacre online on June 4.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS