‘Stop meddling’: Beijing accuses Taiwan of hypocrisy over Hong Kong arrests

Mainland authorities say the island’s ruling party is using claims of right abuses as cover for an independence plot

Taiwanese supporters call on the DPP to create a way for Hong Kong activists to be granted residency

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Demonstrators in Taipei show their support for activists facing court in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Published: 5:00pm, 2 Mar 2021Updated: 5:00pm, 2 Mar 2021

Beijing has accused Taiwan of “meddling” in the prosecution of 47 opposition activists in Hong Kong, and accused the island’s authorities of plotting to seek independence for the city.

“We are telling [Taiwan’s] Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to stop ... meddling in Hong Kong’s internal affairs and not to continue its erroneous route,” Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), said in Beijing on Tuesday.

“The remarks by the DPP authorities once again expose their plot to seek independence for Hong Kong and their use of human rights and freedom to cover up their hypocritical nature.”

Dozens of former opposition lawmakers and activists have been charged with conspiring to subvert state power. Photo: Winson Wong

The TAO took aim at the island’s independence-leaning party for criticism on Sunday over the arrest of opposition activists in Hong Kong. The DPP said the action seriously infringed human rights and personal freedom, and stoked “red terror” in the city.

“The Hong Kong police arrested a large number of opposition figures from the pan-democrat camp on the grounds that they had violated the Hong Kong national security law … and immediately charged them with sedition,” the DPP said.

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