[lg policy] China Hardens Policy on Hong Kong, Taiwan

[Harold Schiffman]

 China Hardens Policy on Hong Kong, Taiwan

Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang applaud
during the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress. –
Photo Andy Wong – AP

–

*BEIJING* – China signalled Monday it was hardening its stance on dissent
in Taiwan and Hong Kong, where it faces growing frustration with the
increasingly authoritarian government of President Xi Jinping.

Claudia Mo, a Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator, said the “one country,
two systems” deal was dead. “They are just confirming it,” she added.

In a report to the opening session of the annual National People’s Congress
in Beijing, Premier Li Keqiang warned China “will never tolerate any
separatist schemes” in Taiwan, amid increasing tensions between the
mainland and the self-ruled island.

The warning to the almost 3,000 members of the mostly ceremonial
legislature followed the omission of language supporting the political
autonomy of Hong Kong and Macau that had featured prominently in previous
years.

The report said Beijing would continue to uphold its “one China” principle
and promote “peaceful growth” relations with Taiwan under the 1992
consensus, which agrees that there is only one China without specifying
whether Beijing or Taipei is its rightful representative.

Beijing will also “advance China’s peaceful reunification”, Li said.

But, he added, it “will never tolerate any separatist schemes or activities
for ‘Taiwan independence’.”

China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification. It
has cut off official communications with Taipei because President Tsai
Ing-wen refuses to acknowledge the democratic island as part of “one China”.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which handles relations with China, said
in response the island wants to “maintain the peaceful and stable status
quo in the Taiwan Strait”.

“We urge China to adopt forward-looking and innovative positive thinking
regarding the development of cross-strait relations,” it said in a
statement.

China voiced anger last week after the US Senate passed a bill to encourage
visits between Washington and Taipei “at all levels”.

Washington cut formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 in favour of
Beijing. But it maintains trade relations with the island and sells it
weapons, angering China.

The report also hinted at a hardening stance towards dissent in the
semi-autonomous cities of Hong Kong and Macau, which Beijing rules under
the principle of “One country, two systems”.

Last year the section of the report on governing the former European
colonies said they would be allowed “a high degree of autonomy”, a
statement in keeping with past years, but this year’s report omitted the
phrase.

While this year’s report referred to the “One country, two systems”
concept, it no longer said it would “steadfastly” apply the principle.

The change may seem minor but silence speaks volumes in a system where
government documents are edited down to the last comma.

Hong Kong has been governed under a “one country, two systems” deal since
1997, when Britain handed it back to China.

This allows residents rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of
speech and a partially directly elected legislature, as well as an
independent judiciary.

But there are fears these freedoms are under threat from Beijing.

Tanya Chan, a pro-democracy lawmaker in the city, said the omission of the
mention of Hong Kong people governing themselves was no mistake.

“I don’t think any omission is without purpose, especially when Hong Kong
people are concerned about autonomy and the whole system,” she told AFP.

“I worry about whether the Chinese government still respects these very
important promises,” Chan added, predicting more “serious and overt”
intervention by Beijing.

Source: Agence France-Presse


-- 
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

-------------------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20180307/f82ef418/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list