China is pushing for Hong Kong’s unification and “cleansing” its civil society, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in a report published on Monday
The report analyzed the situation in Hong Kong as China last month celebrated the 25th anniversary of the handover of the territory’s sovereignty from British to Chinese rule.
The promulgation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law more than two years ago led to an exodus of residents as the territory tumbled in a number of international freedom indices, the report said.
File photo
There were 7,403,000 residents in Hong Kong at the end of last year, a fall of 23,600 residents from 2020, it said.
The law suppresses the freedoms and human rights of Hong Kongers, as seen by the increase in prosecution of student protesters, political opposition party members, democracy advocates, trade unions and civil groups, the report said, adding that at least 60 civic groups were forced to disband or suspend operations in the past year.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last month visited the territory to celebrate the anniversary of the handover, he emphasized Beijing’s control of the territory as a defining feature of the “one country, two systems” model, the report said.
Beijing’s influence over Hong Kong’s electoral system requires elected officials to be “patriots,” a deviation from the territory’s Basic Law, which stipulates a “Hong Kong governed by Hong Kongers,” the report said.
The Hong Kong Legislative Council is gradually coming under the control of the Chinese National People’s Congress, prompting fears that controversial laws could easily be passed, it said.
There have been no developments in official exchanges between Taiwan and Hong Kong due to tensions across the Taiwan Strait, it said, adding that commercial and people-to-people exchanges remain strong.
In a show of support to Hong Kongers, Taiwan amended its Regulations for Hong Kong and Macau Residents Studying in Taiwan (香港澳門居民來台就學辦法), which now permits high schools and vocational schools to admit students from the two territories, it said.
The Regulations Governing Residency or Permanent Residency for People of the Hong Kong Area and the Macau Area (香港澳門居民進入臺灣地區及居留定居許可辦法) was also revised to allow jobseekers from Hong Kong and Macau to extend their visas for up to a year, it added.
Taiwan has also enhanced its risk management system as Beijing tightens its control over Hong Kong, it said.
Amendments to the National Security Act (國家安全法) were passed to prevent Taiwanese from helping foreign countries or hostile foreign forces to obtain, use or leak business secrets involving “core” technologies through theft, cheating, coercion or reproduction without authorization, it said, adding that the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) was amended to prevent Chinese-funded businesses from using Taiwanese companies as vessels to invest in Taiwan.
The government would continue to monitor the situation in Hong Kong closely and would take action against any national security or human rights threats to safeguard the well-being and sovereignty of Taiwan, it said.
TRICKED INTO MOVING: Local governments in China do not offer any help, and Taiwanese there must compete with Chinese in an unfamiliar setting, a researcher said Beijing’s incentives for Taiwanese businesspeople to invest in China are only intended to lure them across the Taiwan Strait, after which they receive no real support, an expert said on Sunday. Over the past few years, Beijing has been offering a number of incentives that “benefit Taiwanese in name, while benefiting China in reality,” a cross-strait affairs expert said on condition of anonymity. Strategies such as the “31 incentives” are intended to lure Taiwanese talent, capital and technology to help address China’s economic issues while also furthering its “united front” efforts, they said. Local governments in China do not offer much practical
Police have detained a Taoyuan couple suspected of over the past two months colluding with human trafficking rings and employment scammers in Southeast Asia to send nearly 100 Taiwanese jobseekers to Cambodia. At a media briefing in Taipei yesterday, the Criminal Investigation Bureau presented items seized from the couple, including alleged victims’ passports, forged COVID-19 vaccination records, mobile phones, bank documents, checks and cash. The man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and his girlfriend, surnamed Tsan (詹), were taken into custody last month, after police at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport stopped four jobseekers from boarding a flight to Phnom Penh, said Dustin Lee (李泱輯),
PUBLIC POLL: More than half believe Chinese drills would make Taiwanese less willing to unify with China, while 36 percent said an invasion was highly unlikely Half of Taiwanese support independence, according to the results of a poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation, which also found that President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) support rating fell by 7 percentage points. Fifty percent of respondents supported independence, 25.7 percent supported maintaining the “status quo” and 11.8 percent supported unification, while 12.1 percent had no opinion, did not know or refused to answer, the foundation said. Support for independence is the new mainstream opinion, regardless of which party is in power, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said. Insinuations that Taiwan wants to maintain the “status quo” are a fabrication that
BILINGUAL PLAN: The 17 educators were recruited under a program that seeks to empower Taiwanese, the envoy to the Philippines said The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines on Thursday hosted a send-off event for the first group of English-language teachers from the country who were recruited for a Ministry of Education-initiated program to advance bilingual education in Taiwan. The 14 teachers and three teaching assistants are part of the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which aims to help find English-language instructors for Taiwan’s public elementary and junior-high schools, the office said. Seventy-seven teachers and 11 teaching assistants from the Philippines have been hired to teach in Taiwan in the coming school year, office data showed. Among the first group is 57-year-old
RSS