Staff at Taiwan’s representative office in Hong Kong have begun to leave after demands from the city’s government that they commit to the latter’s ‘One China’ principle.
Taiwan has long had an effective diplomatic presence in Hong Kong, with the mainland enclave’s relative autonomy giving it some leeway to do so. China – which claims the island democracy as its own – has in recent years moved severely to curtail Hong Kong’s freedom and has become increasingly bellicose about Taiwan.
Taiwan has been vocal in its opposition to the imposition of new security laws in Hong Kong and the associated crackdown on dissent. It has invited Hong Kongers to settle in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council noted in a statement that Hong Kong’s government had since mid-2018 been setting ‘unreasonable political conditions for staff visas for our Hong Kong office’. The latest is the signing of a ‘One China Commitment Letter’.
This would require Taiwanese officials to endorse what would effectively amount to China’s official view on the geopolitical situation.
As a result, Taiwanese officials would return to Taiwan, with only Hong Kongers employed by the office remaining in place.
[Image: Jude Joshua from Pixabay]