Taipei, July 13: A top Taiwan official today rejected Beijing's hopes of reunifying the Island under the same arrangements it has with Hong Kong, saying the former colony's crisis over anti-subversion laws showed the it wouldn't work. Hong Kong's relationship with the communist mainland is governed by the "one country, two systems" principle that allows it to maintain its open-market way of life for 50 years after the handover of sovereignty in July 1997.
Taiwan Foreign Minister Eugene Chien, however, said a similar arrangement would not work for Taiwan. "Following Hong Kong's handover in 1997, the Chinese communists have stepped up their publicity campaign in the international community attempting to use Hong Kong as a window," Chien said at a speech in a seminar in Taipei.
But over the past six years, he said, Hong Kong's press freedoms and once-hailed judicial system have been undermined. And the passage of Article 23 legislation, required by Hong Kong's Constitution to ban treason, sedition, subversion and the theft of state secrets, will only worsen problems, he added.
"Once Article 23 is approved by the legislature, Hong Kong's freedoms will be further restricted, and the free sentiment, which has prevailed Hong Kong's market economy, will vanish," Chien said.
"How could the international community believe that Beijing would settle its territorial disputes with Taipei in a peaceful manner if it could randomly scrap its guarantee of maintaining Hong Kong's free-wheeling economy for 50 years?" he questioned. Bureau Report