{"id":178046,"date":"2014-10-10T21:25:45","date_gmt":"2014-10-11T04:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=178046"},"modified":"2021-09-14T21:10:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T04:10:45","slug":"taiwan-urges-china-let-hong-kong-go-democratic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2014\/10\/taiwan-urges-china-let-hong-kong-go-democratic\/","title":{"rendered":"Taiwan Urges China to let Hong Kong \u2018Go Democratic\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
President Ma Ying-jeou\u00a0used Taiwan’s National Day celebrations to urge Beijing\u00a0to embrace democracy and political reforms in the same way it embraced economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping<\/strong><\/a>. Ma’s remarks, which speak to the broad support that Taiwan has shown for Hong Kong’s democratic struggle<\/a>, came after scheduled\u00a0talks between the Hong Kong government and the demonstrators were called off this week<\/a>. From AFP:<\/p>\n Taiwan\u2019s president, Ma Ying-jeou, has called on Beijing to \u201clet some people go democratic first\u201d as he expressed support for protesters who have paralysed parts of Hong Kong for nearly two weeks.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0\u201cThirty years ago, when Deng Xiaoping was pushing for reform and opening up in the mainland, he famously proposed letting some people get rich first. So why couldn\u2019t they do the same thing in Hong Kong, and let some people go democratic first?\u201d<\/p>\n Ma said \u201cChina would simply be making good on a pledge made 17 years ago, when they said that for 50 years they would allow rule of Hong Kong by the people of Hong Kong, a high degree of autonomy, and election of the chief executive through universal suffrage\u201d.<\/p>\n This would be a \u201cwin-win scenario\u201d for both China and Hong Kong, as well as a huge boost for the relations between Taipei and Beijing, Ma added. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong<\/a>, which\u00a0have been closely watched in Taiwan and elsewhere on China’s periphery<\/a>,\u00a0have evoked concerns about what might befall Taiwan should it ever reunite with the mainland<\/strong><\/a>. From Ralph Jennings at The Los Angeles Times:<\/p>\n China regained sovereignty over Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, pledging a \u201cone country, two systems\u201d form of rule that would give the world financial center a high degree of autonomy for 50 years. Authorities in Beijing have long advocated the same kind of model to reunite Taiwan with the mainland.<\/p>\n Taiwan, 100 miles off China\u2019s southeastern coast across the Taiwan Strait, is ethnically Chinese but has been self-governed since the 1940s. Beijing maintains a claim of sovereignty over the island of 23 million and has threatened to take it by force.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0\u201cTaiwanese are afraid that if you can\u2019t sustain \u2018one country, two systems\u2019 in Hong Kong, then it wouldn\u2019t work here, and that\u2019s why Taiwan is paying attention,\u201d said Ku Chung-hua, 58, a standing board member of Citizen Congress Watch, a group that monitors Taiwan\u2019s Legislature. \u201cThe Hong Kong problem makes people here think \u2018one country, two systems\u2019 is a deception.\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In a letter to The New York Times, James Yu of Taiwan’s de facto<\/em> consulate in New York argues that “Taiwan will not be tomorrow\u2019s Hong Kong.”<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n […]\u00a0Taiwan will not be tomorrow\u2019s Hong Kong. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is a free democratic country with its own government and military; the two are inherently different. Moreover, the vast majority of the people in Taiwan have consistently rejected the idea of the \u201cone country, two systems\u201d formula.<\/p>\n We call on the leaders in Beijing to honor their promise and listen to the demands of the people of Hong Kong or risk undermining their credibility in future regional negotiations.\u00a0[Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Also read about\u00a0Taiwan’s\u00a0<\/a>Sunflower Movement<\/a>\u00a0and the parallels it shares with Hong Kong’s demonstrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Ma Ying-jeou\u00a0used Taiwan’s National Day celebrations to urge Beijing\u00a0to embrace democracy and political reforms in the same way it embraced economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping. Ma’s remarks, which speak to the broad support that Taiwan has shown for Hong Kong’s democratic struggle, came after scheduled\u00a0talks between the Hong Kong government and the demonstrators were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1088,"featured_media":178064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,35,14744,14745,14746,100,112],"tags":[5949,14990,16131,17005,8355,16506,5977],"class_list":["post-178046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-hong-kong","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-taiwan","tag-hong-kong-democracy","tag-hong-kong-status","tag-occupy-central","tag-taiwan","tag-taiwan-democracy","tag-taiwan-protests-2014","tag-taiwan-status","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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