Lawmakers and heads of local governments can visit Hong Kong or Macau without seeking approval, making the two regions a loophole in Taiwan’s national security front line against Beijing’s “united front” warfare, a Taiwanese academic said.
Last month, KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) visited Hong Kong along with his wife, Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚), to promote Hualien County tourism.
Fu said he was ill and could not attend a cross-party negotiation held at the legislature on Feb. 18.
Photo: REUTERS
His visit to Hong Kong remained unknown until Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) said that he was absent from the negotiation due to being abroad on leave.
Allowing lawmakers and heads of local governments to visit Hong Kong or Macau unregulated has become a serious security loophole prone to “united front” infiltration, especially as the Chinese Ministry of State Security has intelligence agents in Hong Kong, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said.
The US government has motioned amendments to its US-Hong Kong Policy Act to end special treatment for Hong Kong and stop regarding it as a separate entity from China, he said.
Taiwan’s Hong Kong and Macau policies should be updated as well, but they are floundering in a legislature controlled by the opposition majority, he said.
“Hong Kong is a national security loophole,” he said.
No one knew who Fu had met while visiting Hong Kong, Chen said.
Officials of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong have returned to Taiwan, as they refused to sign an affidavit recognizing Beijing’s “one China” principle as a precondition for a visa, leaving the office with only local workers from Hong Kong, Chen said.
Since the government cannot send public servants to the office to accompany visiting Taiwanese officials, meetings with Chinese officials in Hong Kong would go under the radar, he said, adding that laws should be revised to require prior approval for officials’ visits to Hong Kong, Macau and China.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official familiar with national security affairs said that Beijing set up an executive agency in Hong Kong in 2021 under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which had come into force the previous year.
Beijing has since encouraged people in Hong Kong to report cases of suspected national security threats, they said.
From 2021 to last year, there were 750,000 cases reported in Hong Kong, equivalent to about 170,000 cases per year, the official said.
Although Hong Kong has become a stronghold for China’s MSS, Taiwan has yet to launch regulations on heads of local governments visiting Hong Kong or Macau, they said.
Article 9 of 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) only stipulates that political appointees, mayors of special municipalities and heads of local governments may not visit China without prior application for approval, the official said.
Those who contravene the provision could be fined NT$10 million (US$304,036), they added.
The Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau (香港澳門關係條例) does not stipulate any relevant restriction, the official said.
It is highly risky that lawmakers and heads of local governments can visit Hong Kong without applying for approval, they said.
However, given the opposition holds a majority in the legislature, it would be difficult to amend the Act Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau, the official said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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