Taiwan has gone from brutal autocracy to one of the most progressive democracies in Asia.
Taipei, Taiwan:
The imposition of a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong made Taiwan shudder, heightening fears that Beijing would then focus on taking over the self-governing democratic island.
China and Taiwan separated in 1949 after nationalist forces lost a civil war against the communists of Mao Zedong, fleeing to the island that Beijing has promised to capture by force one day, if necessary.
“The law makes me hate China even more,” 18-year-old student Sylvia Chang told AFP when crossing the Taiwan National University in Taipei.
“They promised 50 years without change for Hong Kong, but they are becoming more and more tough … I fear that Hong Kong today will become Taiwan tomorrow.”
Over the years, China has used a mixture of threats and incentives, including a promise that Taiwan may have the “One country, two systems” model that governs Hong Kong, supposedly guaranteeing key civil liberties and a degree of autonomy for 50 years after the city of 1997 reset.
The two largest political parties in Taiwan have long rejected the offer, and the new security law has incinerated the lack of faith that many Taiwanese could still have in Beijing’s influence.
Some are now even worried about transiting through Hong Kong, fearing that their social media profiles would see them open to prosecution under the law.
The law “makes China so bad, distancing itself even further from the Hong Kong people, not to mention people on the other side of the strait in Taiwan,” Alexander Huang, a political analyst at Tamkang University in Taipei, told AFP.
“Hong Kong today, Taiwan tomorrow”
Beijing has taken a particularly hard line towards Taiwan since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), intensifying military, economic and diplomatic pressure.
Tsai views Taiwan as a de facto independent nation, not part of a “one China”.
But the pressure campaign did little to attract the 23 million people of Taiwan.
In January, Tsai won a second term with a historic landslide, and polls consistently show growing distrust of China.
A record 67% now identifies as “Taiwanese” instead of Taiwanese-Chinese or Chinese – an increase of 10% over the previous year – according to a routine survey by the National University of Chengchi.
In 1992, this figure was only 18%.
In recent decades, Taiwan has gone from brutal autocracy to one of the most progressive democracies in Asia.
Younger Taiwanese tend to be particularly wary of their huge bossy neighbor.
Social media is full of messages of support for the democratic movement in Hong Kong. Some support Taiwanese independence or highlight violations of China’s rights in regions like Tibet and Xinjiang.
Wendy Peng, a 26-year-old editor who said she often shares messages about pro-Hong Kong democracy on social media, said she would now avoid visiting the city.
“The national security law makes me wonder how far China would go. At the moment, I don’t see a result and there probably isn’t. I think it is possible that they are targeting Taiwan then, “she said.
Universal jurisdiction
Peng’s fears are not unfounded.
In addition to allowing the Chinese security apparatus to openly settle in Hong Kong for the first time, Beijing’s security law claims universal jurisdiction.
Article 38 specifies that security crimes can be committed anywhere in the world by people of any nationality.
Hong Kong police have made it clear that supporting independence for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet or Xinjiang is now illegal.
University employee Patrick Wu, 31, said he would even avoid transiting through Hong Kong.
“It is like a general law, everything that China wants to define and interpret,” he told AFP. “I don’t know if the likes or the messages I left on social media will be prosecuted.”
Last week, Chen Ming-tong, the minister of the Taiwan Continental Affairs Council, accused Beijing of wanting to become a supremely powerful “celestial empire” by ordering “subjects from around the world” to obey its law.
Lin Fei-fan, deputy secretary general of the ruling PDP, warned that “ordinary Taiwanese” could now be arrested in “manufactured cases” if they went to Hong Kong.
He cited the imprisonment of Taiwanese NGO worker Lee Ming-che in China under the continent’s own subversion laws.
Lee was arrested in 2017 while traveling on the continent and held incommunicado for months before his fate was made public.
Sung Chen-en, political commentator and columnist in Taipei, said that Beijing’s new security law “creates great uncertainty about what can be said” far beyond the borders of Hong Kong.
“If everyone observes their own expression of opinion, it creates a chilling effect on democracy,” he told AFP.
“If everyone is coercing, there is no freedom.”
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
