by Lily Kuo and News Agencies
President Tsai Ing-wen pledges ‘necessary assistance’ after a resurgence in protests against newly proposed security legislation from Beijing
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| Hong Kong police fired teargas and pepper spray at demonstrators after thousands took to the streets to oppose Beijing’s declaration that it intends to impose security laws. Photograph: Ivan Abreu/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock |
Taiwan will provide the people of Hong Kong with “necessary assistance”, President Tsai Ing-wen has said, after a resurgence in protests in the Chinese-ruled territory against newly proposed national security legislation from Beijing.
Taiwan
has become a refuge for a small but growing number of pro-democracy
protesters fleeing Hong Kong, which has been convulsed since last year
by protests.
Hong Kong police fired tear gas
and water cannon to disperse thousands of people who rallied on Sunday
to protest against Beijing’s plan to impose national security laws on
the city.
Writing
on her Facebook page late on Sunday, Tsai said the proposed legislation
was a serious threat to Hong Kong’s freedoms and judicial independence.
Bullets and repression are not the way to deal with the aspirations of Hong Kong’s people for freedom and democracy, she added.
“In
face of the changing situation, the international community has
proactively stretched out a helping hand to Hong Kong’s people,” Tsai
wrote.
Taiwan will “even more proactively
perfect and forge ahead with relevant support work, and provide Hong
Kong’s people with necessary assistance,’” she wrote.
Taiwan
has no law on refugees that could be applied to Hong Kong protesters
who seek asylum on the island. Its laws do promise, though, to help Hong
Kong citizens whose safety and liberty are threatened for political
reasons.
The Hong Kong protests have won
widespread sympathy in Taiwan, and the support for the protesters by
Tsai and her administration have worsened already poor ties between
Taipei and Beijing.
Hong Kong officials have
said they support the looming legislation. On Monday, Hong Kong’s
security chief said “terrorism” was growing in the city, as government
departments rallied behind Beijing’s plans to introduce the national
security laws.
“Terrorism is growing in the
city and activities which harm national security, such as ‘Hong Kong
independence’, become more rampant,” Secretary for Security John Lee
said in a statement.
“In just a few months,
Hong Kong has changed from one of the safest cities in the world to a
city shrouded in the shadow of violence,” he said.
Hong
Kong’s former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa said the plan was the “best
cure” for his city’s recent instability while the acting head of the
immigration department said it supported Beijing decision and would
“strictly control immigration” to prevent any activities that “endanger
national security”.
The decision has continued
to invite criticism within Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Bar Association said
the legislation by China’s National People’s Congress would violate the
territory’s de-facto constitution, which explicitly states that Hong
Kong enact its own national security law.
“This
is unprecedented. The public must be allowed the opportunity to
properly consider and debate about proposed laws which affect their
personal rights and obligations,” it said in a statement.
Chinese
officials on Monday sought to reassure the public, while also
threatening “to hit back at any possible sanctions from Washington.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters that
Beijing would take “countermeasures” against any US attempt to harm the
country’s national security.
Xie Feng,
commissioner of China’s ministry of foreign affairs in Hong Kong said
that some of the protest activities last year were “terrorist in
nature”. Noting that that the law will only affect a small number of
residents, he said there is “absolutely no need to panic.”
Officials
in Beijing and Hong Kong have bristled at the growing international
condemnation of the move to impose national security laws and accused
those supported the protesters of foreign interference. Hong Kong China
has accused supporters of Taiwan independence of colluding with the
protesters.
China believes Tsai to be a “separatist” bent on declaring the island’s formal independence. Tsai says Taiwan is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name.
Reuters contributed to this report
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/25/taiwan-promises-support-for-hong-kongs-people-china-national-security-law
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