President of Taiwan says “all like-minded friends” stand with the protestors in Hong Kong
Noriko Watanabe and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The nation of China under the current leader Xi Jinping is known for re-closing Christian churches, ruling Muslim subjects by fear in Xinjiang, continuing its firm grip over Buddhist Tibet, mass surveillance, and other draconian realities. At the same time, people in Hong Kong fear the growing encroachment of the one-party-state and the political elites in Hong Kong who are threatening dissent by stealth. This applies to the proposed “extradition law with China.”
Unbelievably, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, is trying to pin the blame on the protestors. Of course, this is extremely disingenuous because she knew full well that the proposed extradition law would lead to mass tensions. Equally, given her open-arms with political elites in China, then clearly she doesn’t have anything to fear about handing her freedom away.
President Tsai Ing-Wen of Taiwan spoke appropriately about the violence meted out to the demonstrators who support democracy and freedom. She uttered via social media, “Utterly saddened to see the images of #HongKong police firing rubber bullets at protesters. To the people of Hong Kong: you may feel your demands for freedom seem to fall on deaf ears, please know that all like-minded friends in #Taiwan & around the world are standing with you.”
This follows on from an earlier tweet when the leader of Taiwan said, “We stand with all freedom-loving people of #HongKong. In their faces, we see the longing for freedom, & are reminded that #Taiwan’s hard-earned democracy must be guarded & renewed by every generation. As long as I’m President, “one country, two systems” will never be an option.”
Indeed, internationally, it is high-time for democratic nations to support Taiwan because this will show China that its authoritarian diktat isn’t warranted internally or externally. Also, for people in Hong Kong who fear the growing footprints of fear based on the extradition bill, it will encourage them that democrats are not being abandoned in Hong Kong or Taiwan.
The mass demonstrations in Hong Kong should be a wake-up call to the political elites in charge; authoritarians in China; and for nations that pander to either authoritarian Islamic theocratic states or nations ruled by authoritarian one-party states. Of course, each ruling one-party state must alter its own internal dynamics itself until gradual openness and progress are reached. Sadly, under Xi Jinping, the opposite is happening because the intrusive nature of the authoritarian state is growing. This is based on mass surveillance and another onslaught against religion – while also threatening regional nations by increasing the military angle at all costs.
The BBC reports, “The bill’s critics cite the alleged use of torture, arbitrary detentions and forced confessions in mainland China. They also fear that the law could be used to target political opponents of the Chinese state in Hong Kong.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-48615161
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