Hong Kong condemns Taiwan after second-highest travel warning issued for city
- Self-ruled island issues ‘orange’ alert recommending avoiding non-essential travel to Hong Kong due to national security law
The Hong Kong government has condemned Taiwanese authorities for smearing the national security law by issuing its second-highest travel warning for the city, calling it political manipulation.
A government spokesman said on Thursday night the administration had constitutional responsibilities to ensure national security, as other common law jurisdictions such as the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore did.
“However, the Taiwan authorities turned a blind eye to this, spoke nonsense, maliciously smeared and demonised the national security law and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, completely exposing their double standards,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Taiwan issued its second-highest travel warning for Hong Kong, telling the self-ruled island’s residents to avoid non-essential travel to the city due to its national security laws and cases of Taiwanese being detained on mainland China.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said an “orange” travel warning had been issued for the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau.
“There have been several cases of citizens going to mainland China and getting illegally detained, kept and interrogated,” it said.