Hong Kong’s prominent Scholarism and student federation activists greet the historic new government of Taiwan with ideas for co-operation and solidarity
SAMUEL CHAN IN TAIPEI, TONY CHEUNG AND PHILA SIU
TONY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 17 January, 2016, 6:00pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 17 January, 2016, 7:56pm
Joshua Wong (R), the teenage face of Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement with fellow Hong Kong student leader Alex Chow during a press conference in Taipei. Photo: AFP
Taiwan and Hong Kong’s nascent political forces born of youth-led mass protests may join hands to soon test whether Tsai Ing-wen’s administration would speak up for Hong Kong, or Taiwanese activists if any was again denied entry to the city, said student leaders of Occupy protests.
Speaking at a press briefing in Taipei attended by current and former student protest leaders from Hong Kong and the mainland, Scholarism and the Hong Kong Federation of Students leaders also called on the new Democratic Progressive Party government to formulate separate policies for Hong Kong instead of seeing it as an extension of mainland affairs.
One possibility under consideration is to invite leaders of the island’s Sunflower Movement previously denied entry to visit the city, said Joshua Wong Chi-fung of Scholarism.
“We would coordinate with them [on this matter],” he said, adding he would seek to have more collaboration with this new political force in Taiwan.
One such leader of this so-called “third force” in Taiwan and New Power Party chairman Huang Kuo-chang said on January 5 that his visa application to HK was declined, the second time since 2014 when he planned to travel to the city during the Occupy protests.
“But it didn’t cause much discussion in Hong Kong. Why? Because many of us have grown accustomed to such absurdity, we have become used to [the fact that] some people’s rights would be suppressed even in Hong Kong,” said Nathan Law Kwun-chung, secretary general of the HKFS at the same occasion.
Despite the autonomy and liberty the island now enjoys, Tsai’s administration must realise the island is in fact on the same boat with Hong Kong in face of mainland China, said Alex Chow Yong-kang, who led the HKFS during Occupy.
“If [Taiwan] was to sit by and watch Hong Kong die, it would only find itself more isolated,” Chow said.
Taiwan should begin to see Hong Kong as its partner since it is the only Chinese society with which the island shares the most core values, he said, and each needs the other more than ever in face of a more self-asserted China.
However, the pro-establishment camp in Hong Kong questioned whether the DPP would be outspoken on Hong Kong matters.
David Wong Yau-kar, a Hong Kong deputy to Beijing’s National People’s Congress, said it was unlikely that Tsai would want any “complication” in her job when her first priorities were to improve Taiwan’s economy and people’s livelihood.
“In the past, the DPP and Hong Kong activists might sympathise with each other because they felt Ma Ying-jeou was too Beijing-friendly, this relationship will change as the DPP rules now.”
Ben Chan Han-pan, lawmaker from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, also believes that Tsai Ing-wen’s government will be “cautious” on Hong Kong affairs.
Student leaders Lester Shum (2nd L) and Alex Chow (R), who took part in Hong Kong's Occupy Central movement, shop for souvenirs at Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei. Photo: Reuters
Joshua Wong walks into a press conference in Taipei on January 17, 2016. Student leaders of Hong Kong's pro-democracy Umbrella Movement said they would seek closer ties with Taiwan after the island elected a new president who pledged to stand up to China. Photo: AFP
