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Pedestrians wearing masks cross the street in Taipei, Taiwan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Hong Kong accuses Taiwan of interfering in local affairs as row over office closure heats up

  • Taipei’s help to protesters and other actions in recent years have severely damaged ties, government says
  • Hong Kong shut its de facto consulate on the island on Tuesday after a decade in operation
The Hong Kong government has lashed out at Taiwan for offering aid to protesters who fled the city and severely interfering in local affairs, just days after the abrupt closure of its office on the self-ruled island.

Taipei’s “provocative acts” went against a long-standing agreement between the sides to pursue cooperation and the deteriorating situation had forced the de facto consulate to shut amid fears over the safety of staff, a spokesman said on Friday.

“In recent years, Taiwan has grossly interfered in Hong Kong’s affairs on repeated occasions and created irretrievable damage to Hong Kong-Taiwan relations,” he said in a sharp escalation of the row.

Relations between the two sides have suffered following a fight over the extradition of a murder suspect and Taiwan’s embrace of anti-government protesters fleeing Hong Kong last year.

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In an interview with the Post in June last year, Hong Kong security minister John Lee Ka-chiu claimed that Taiwanese and American interference had fanned the flames of protests in the city and played a role in the evolution of the social unrest.

But the closure of the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office (Taiwan) on Tuesday has sent ties to a fresh low.

The government only said at the time the decision was unrelated to the island’s escalating Covid-19 crisis, while Taipei called the step a regrettable unilateral move that went against established convention.
Hong Kong Secretary for Security John Lee. Photo: Nora Tam

“Taiwan’s series of actions in recent years has severely damaged Hong Kong-Taiwan relations, gradually jeopardising the operating environment for the [office] in Taiwan,” the spokesman said.

“On the other hand, staff members … have been threatened by radicals in Taiwan. These circumstances have posed uncertainties for the staff members and narrowed the room for promoting Hong Kong-Taiwan exchanges in various areas.”

To protect the safety and rights of Hong Kong staff members, the office was closed, the government said. All Hong Kong staff members have already left Taiwan and returned home. 

Taiwan-Hong Kong ties in jeopardy over work permits

The two sides set up the Hong Kong-Taiwan Economic and Cultural Cooperation and Promotion Council in 2010 as an unofficial platform to discuss cooperation. Taiwan also set up a corresponding council, and the Hong Kong office in Taipei opened the following year.

“Most notably, Taiwan has launched the so-called Hong Kong Aid Project and unilaterally established the so-called Taiwan-Hong Kong Office for Exchanges and Services under the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council, offering assistance to violent protesters and people who tried to shatter Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability,” the spokesman said.

Taipei last week accused Hong Kong of ignoring its requests to renew work permits for staff of its own de facto consulate in the city.

The eight employees will be unable to stay in Hong Kong after their permits expire at the end of the year, according to Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which handles the island’s dealings with Beijing.

Chiu Chui-cheng, the council’s vice-chairman, told Taiwan’s legislature on May 10 the eight officials had applied for the permits in line with an agreement signed by the two sides in 2011 and had done nothing to breach the terms of that deal during their time in Hong Kong.

Taipei has in turn stopped issuing or renewing work permits for Hong Kong officials based on the island, citing “parity and reciprocity” and “upholding national dignity”, according to sources from the council.

A Hong Kong protester in Taiwan holds a flag to mark the first anniversary of a mass rally in his city against the now-withdrawn extradition bill. Photo: AP

The body said Taiwanese authorities and other democratic countries supported Hong Kong’s fight for democracy in accordance with universal values.

“Taiwan provides humanitarian care and necessary services for Hong Kong people who came to the island through legal means. Yet the Hong Kong government misinterpreted it as provocation from our side,” the council said. “We regret the Hong Kong government’s disregard of democracy and the rule of law.”

The council added that the Hong Kong government had to bear the consequences of suspending the operation of its office in Taipei, including its impact on the rights of Hong Kong residents in Taiwan.

It also accused the Hong Kong government of imposing “unreasonable political demands” on workers in Taiwan’s office in the city since July 2018, which affected normal staff rotation.

The Post has learned that the Hong Kong government has required staff of Taiwan’s office in the city to sign a declaration requiring them to “rigorously uphold the one-China principle” as a condition of visa renewal.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Government accuses Taiwan of interfering in city’s affairs
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