Taiwan opens its Taiwan-Hong Kong Office for Exchanges and Services, which will be responsible for welcoming Hong Kongers to the island.
The office will accept applications of people from Hong Kong who want to live in Taiwan. Its opening comes as China passed the controversial national security law in Hong Kong. Issues emerged with the passage of the legislation, such as the degradation of freedoms and rights in the special administrative region.
The Taiwan-Hong Kong Office for Exchanges and Services was launched on Wednesday, the same day Hong Kong commemorated the 23rd anniversary of its transfer of sovereignty from Britain to China on July 1, 1997.
On Tuesday night, China finally implemented the Hong Kong national security law. The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it “strongly condemns” the legislation.
“The Hong Kong national security law reflects a complete negation of the commitment made by the Chinese Communist Party at the handover of Hong Kong that its way of life would ‘remain unchanged for 50 years,’” Taiwan’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The law will seriously undermine Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, significantly restrict freedom of expression and judicial independence, decimate the rule of law, erode core values such as freedom, human rights and rule of law, and cause tremendous social upheaval, while also affecting peace, stability and prosperity in the region,” it said.
Assistance to Hong Kongers
Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen told Hong Kongers in May that her country would help those who wish to settle in Taiwan after the proposal of China's national security legislation.
In June, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council mentioned the Hong Kong Humanitarian Aid Project. This program will oversee the operations of the Taiwan-Hong Kong office.
The services of the office include special consultation and assistance to Hong Kong people. These will be held in the areas of education, investment, residency, employment, entrepreneurship, and immigration. The council also said it will help multinational enterprises and international corporations moving from Hong Kong to Taiwan.
“The Office will also pragmatically handle affairs related to humanitarian assistance and care for Hong Kong citizens based on national security considerations,” it added.
Support from Taiwan
Almost 200 Hong Kongers went to Taiwan since pro-democracy demonstrations took place in the Chinese special administrative territory last year, according to Reuters.
Dr. Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs Minister, stated in a podcast with Lowy Institute that Taipei stands with Hong Kong in terms of democracy.
“For those people who come to Taiwan for political reasons, or who are afraid of political persecution back in China or in Hong Kong, we will try to provide assistance to them in a very low-key way,” Wu said last month before the national security law was passed.
However, he noted: “We don’t want complications for their lives or for Taiwan’s relations with China.”
“If the Chinese government can take away Hong Kong, and to bring down Hong Kong’s freedom and human rights, I think Taiwan is going to be the next,” said Wu, Taiwan’s minister of foreign affairs, said in Lowy Institute’s podcast.
“And therefore, we are calling upon the international society to look at Taiwan as an outpost of democracy in fighting against the expansion of authoritarianism. We are a frontline state and we cannot allow Taiwan to be taken over by China,” he said in the podcast.
