Carrie Lam should learn and ban US infiltration
- As Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen acts to deter mainland Chinese interference, Hong Kong’s leader must follow in her steps and target American influence
Understandably, Beijing and Taiwanese opposition parties such as the Kuomintang and People First Party are up in arms against the controversial new law. But the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) controls the legislature.
In defending the law, President Tsai Ing-wen says every government has the right to defend itself against outside interference, manipulation and infiltration. The United States has long had such laws, including branding and banning foreign groups such as news outlets as hostile foreign agents.
Tsai is expected to win a second term in an election to be held in more than a week’s time. In the last legislative session of the year, the island’s independence-leaning lawmakers pushed through the anti-infiltration bill, which criminalises political activities supported or funded by “hostile external forces”. Its main target is Beijing.
The DPP has claimed that the mainland has long tried to influence politics on the island, including the illicit funding of politicians and the media. Under the new law, anyone who receives funding, instructions or donations from “external forces” to mobilise public rallies, for election campaign purposes, to lobby officials or legislators, or disrupt “social order” could be jailed for up to five years and fined up to NT$10 million (HK$2.6 million).
Sounds like a “me-too” moment for Hong Kong. Among such foreign interference has been well-known funding and sponsorship of local political groups by such semi-official outlets as the National Democratic Institute and the National Endowment for Democracy, funded by the US Congress.
During the height of the ongoing anti-government protests, a political adviser at the US consulate met local activists. It’s not known what transpired. US senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz organised “fact-finding” trips to the city and returned home to help pass the so-called Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. Cruz complained that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor wouldn’t meet him.
Imagine Chinese politicians making such “fact-finding” trips to the US; they wouldn’t be allowed off their plane.
Tsai has been leading in public polls, partly due to her clever exploitation of the unrest in Hong Kong. If nothing else, the hapless Lam needs to learn a thing or two from this political master, starting with a home-grown anti-infiltration law. With Taiwan as an example, our opposition surely can’t object.
