CALL FOR SOLIDARITY:
People who possess pictures from ‘Apple Daily’ or criticize the city government may be incriminated with the new law, a rights advocate said
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By Chung Li-hua and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
A group of Hong Kongers living in Taiwan, known as the Hong Kong Outlanders, yesterday urged Taiwanese to refrain from visiting Hong Kong, as the city is “perilous” after its new security law entered into effect yesterday.
Article 23 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong covers treason, sedition and state secrets, and allows trials to be held behind closed doors.
The group also urged Taipei to deny entry to Hong Kong officials and lawmakers who supported the ordinance’s drafting.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The group put on a skit during a protest in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) area, with a person in a Winnie the Pooh costume representing Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) being sentenced to life imprisonment for treason.
Taiwan Hong Kong Association director-general Sang Pu (桑普) said that people who possess pictures from the Apple Daily newspaper or issue statements criticizing the Hong Kong government might be incriminated.
Taipei should provide humanitarian asylum for Hong Kongers, he said.
“China is a lion and a tiger, and it will come after Taiwan after it takes down Hong Kong,” he said.
Lee Man-ho (李文浩), former Sham Shui Po District councilor in Hong Kong, said his was the last generation of democratically minded councilors, adding that he and others are wanted by the Hong Kong government.
The ordinance is a severe setback to Hong Kong’s democracy and freedom, and if Taiwan and the international community do nothing, it would show China that the democratic camp is not unified.
United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠) attended the event and said that the reason Beijing is attempting to tie the city government with itself is that it was afraid of being challenged.
Taiwan could end up like Hong Kong if it is not more alert, Tsao added.
A Hong Konger who goes by the name Fu Tong (赴湯) said the ordinance was a terrible law because there are no clear definitions of what constitutes a criminal action, adding: “It is all up to the Hong Kong government; if they say you are a criminal, then you are.”
The law affects not only Hong Kongers, but all people from democratic countries, Fu Tong said.
Democratic countries and communities should help protect Hong Kongers in exile and sanction Hong Kong government officials, he said.
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