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Taiwan-Hong Kong ties in jeopardy over work permits Lawrence Chung lawrence.chung@scmp.com Chiu Chui-cheng, vice-chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, says the eight Taiwanese officials in Hong Kong will continue working as long as they can. Photo: CNA
Taiwan-Hong Kong relations might revert to basic interactions as was the case decades ago because of problems with the renewal of the work permits needed by officials to work in each other s jurisdiction, observers said.
The two sides have been in a long-running dispute over Hong Kong s refusal to send local man Chan Tong-kai, who is suspected of murdering his girlfriend during a 2018 visit to Taiwan to stand trial on the island.
HK tycoon assets freeze a warning to investors: MAC
By Ben Blanchard / Reuters, TAIPEI
The government yesterday warned that Hong Kong’s decision to freeze assets belonging to jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) was a sign to the international community that doing business in the Chinese-controlled territory was becoming increasingly risky.
The assets freeze, announced on Friday, includes all shares in his company, Next Digital the first time a listed firm has been targeted by Hong Kong’s National Security Law.
Shortly before the announcement, the Taiwanese arm of Lai’s popular
Apple Daily newspaper said it would stop publishing its print version, blaming declining advertising revenue and more difficult business conditions in Hong Kong linked to politics.
Hong Kongers are settling, sometimes uneasily, into a new home that is close in culture, language and geography, yet a world apart in political freedoms and safety.
EDITORIAL: Recall officials in Hong Kong
The government on Monday expressed concern that Taiwanese officials in Hong Kong would be required to return home at the end of the year, as the territory has so far not responded to requests to renew their visas.
This is probably for the best, given that the Hong Kong government likely acting on instructions from Beijing has demanded that the Taiwanese officials sign documents acknowledging Beijing’s “one China” principle. To do so would effectively cede the Republic of China’s sovereignty claims, which would be counter to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policy of not acknowledging the so-called “1992 consensus.”