Taiwan deports 2 Chinese nationals over harassing Hongkongers’ demonstration on National Day
Hong Kong Free Press
Taiwan has deported two Chinese nationals for harassing people staging a demonstration for Hongkongers in Taipei on Tuesday, China’s National Day.
Taiwan’s government said on Thursday it had revoked the visas of a Chinese couple after they harassed people at a protest held in Taipei’s Ximending district by the Hong Kong Outlanders group and other Hongkongers living on the self-ruled island.
Taiwan has become home to a large Hong Kong diaspora since the protests and unrest in 2019 and the ensuing crackdown on political dissent in the city by Beijing, which claims the island democracy as part of its territory.
The pair had engaged in “misconduct that violates the principle of reciprocal dignity,” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which handles cross-strait affairs, said in a statement.
“The government will take immediate action against mainland Chinese who come to Taiwan for illegal behaviour such as endangering national security and social stability,” the government body said. “They will not be allowed to intrude into Taiwan.”
According to videos published by Hong Kong Outlanders on Facebook, a man attempted to take down a flag bearing the popular protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” before being stopped by the protesters.
A Hong Kong court ruled in 2021 that the slogan was “capable of inciting secession” – an offence under a security law Beijing imposed in 2020 – and recently a man was jailed in the city for sedition over wearing a T-shirt with it on. The phrase remains omnipresent at protests by overseas Hongkonger groups.
The man in the video was filmed saying in Mandarin: “Today is the National Day of China and I would not allow such a flag here,” and “Taiwan and Hong Kong are parts of China!” He quarrelled with the protesters before local police intervened and led him away.
The Mainland Affairs Council also said the pair, who were meant to be in Taiwan visiting relatives, had not disclosed that their relatives had returned to China, and that they did not live at their reported address.
“The government welcomes healthy and orderly exchanges between the two sides of the strait, but such exchanges should be in line with our policy stance, uphold reciprocal dignity, and comply with the laws and regulations,” it said in the statement.
“The government will continue to strengthen the security management of mainland Chinese people coming to Taiwan,” it added.
China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday reiterated calls for Taiwan’s “reunification” in his National Day speech on the 75th anniversary of founding of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing has staged frequent military exercises around the island.
Explainer: Is Taiwan a country? The democratic island’s tangled history, and disputed status
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has vowed to maintain the cross-strait “status quo” while Beijing calls Lai a “dangerous separatist.”
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