China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday.
Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行：羅冠聰的香港備忘錄).
Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021.
Photo: CNA
“Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also brings about a strong driving force and could be perceived as a battle against myself,” he said, adding that the book tells of “the shared experiences of the broader people of Hong Kong over the past few years.”
“I am lucky enough to leave Hong Kong and be here with you, while many of my friends cannot leave and have no choice but to live in a prison — either the ‘big prison’ or a small prison as such,” Law said.
“Many of our partners have been put in jail for more than three-and-a-half years without a definite date of release,” he added.
“The book is dedicated to those who cannot speak up for themselves or cannot take part in our campaign,” he said, calling on Taiwan to continue to pay attention and support Hong Kongers.
Law said Taiwan is a place of significance for him, as it was the first foreign country he ever visited, when he was 18.
“I chose to promote my book in Taiwan mainly because books such as this are not allowed to be published in Hong Kong anymore. My choice reflects the collapse of freedom of publishing and speech in Hong Kong,” he said.
Taiwan is also the best choice because it is “the most democratic and free among the Chinese-speaking countries,” and “many Hong Kongers have relocated to, and reside in, Taiwan,” he said.
At a panel discussion held alongside the book launch, United Microelectronics Corp founder and former chairperson Robert Tsao (曹興誠) said he could relate to the experience described in the book, as he had been in Hong Kong joining anti-extradition bill protests on the street in 2019.
The Chinese Communist Party regime is built on violence and lies, and has no legitimacy and gravely threatens the national security of Taiwan, he said.
Although campaigning efforts made by Hong Kong democracy activists such as Law alerted Taiwanese about the peril Beijing poses to freedom, they have become desensitized to the threat over the years, Tsao said, urging Taiwanese to learn more about Hong Kong’s situation and work together to defend the nation’s freedom.
“Taiwan is on the same side as Hong Kong against the totalitarian China that has quashed Hong Kong’s civil society and voices of dissent, and threatens to take Taiwan by force,” Law said.
What happened to Hong Kong “could be a lesson for Taiwan on how China cracks down on civil society and wipes out opposition forces,” he said. “It is thus crucial for Taiwan and Hong Kong to continue exchanges and mutual support for each other.”
Writer Wang Hao (汪浩), who sought political asylum in the UK due to his support for the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests, at the panel discussion said that he could relate to the feelings of exiles who had to cut themselves off from their family, as described in the book.
Fighting against autocracy is a protracted war of resistance, but the autocratic regime would not last long as it does not resonate with human nature, while democracy with freedom does, he said.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS