Hongkongers and allies demonstrated in Taiwan this afternoon to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. This was termed “Freedom June.” The protest was bookended by rain at its start and beginning, with heavy rain warnings issued across Taiwan today...
It has been widely recognized that Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement in 2019 was the turning point of the 2020 General Election in Taiwan. In the last general election, Beijing’s hardline crackdown on the protests in Hong Kong gave rise to the Taiwanese’s mistrust of China and finally brought a big win to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which was expected to lose both their majority over the Legislative Yuan and their presidency. But after three years of National Security Law (NSL) enactment in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong issue in this general election seems no longer as focal as it was. How should we make sense of this huge contrast in attention? Has “Hong Kong Influence” faded out totally...
Hongkongers and advocates rallied on Saturday to mark four years since the start of the Anti-ELAB movement in Taipei. Around 600 attended. The rally took place despite bouts of rain...
A silent protest took place outside of the Ximen MRT last month on April 16th to call attention to the plight of the 47 defendants in what is Hong Kong’s largest national security trial to date. The protest began at 2 PM and lasted until 4 PM...
The deterioration of what is left of electoral democracy continues in Hong Kong, with plans by the Hong Kong government to decrease the number of directly elected district councilor seats from over 90% to around 20%. Despite this, the Mainland Affairs Council may move forward with plans to increase the barriers for Hongkongers seeking to obtain permanent residency in Taiwan...
A report by Hong Kong’s Ming Pao last week stated that at least two current pro-democracy Hong Kong district councilors and several former Hong Kong district councilors have not heard any answer from the Taiwanese government when applying for visas to visit Taiwan, or had their applications rejected. This occurred despite that these district councilors were not intending to flee to Taiwan for asylum, were only hoping to travel with friends and family to Taiwan to vacation, see friends, and sightseeing, and some had successfully entered Taiwan as recently as 2021...
The largest national security trial to date in Hong Kong started on Monday, with 47 defendants standing trial over charges of “conspiracy to commit subversion", with the act of subversion being directed at the state. The trial is over the defendants’ participation in or involvement in organizing primaries for pro-democracy candidates in Hong Kong LegCo elections...
Five members of a speech therapists’ union were sentenced t in Hong Kong earlier this month on sedition charges over a series of children’s books. The charges used by police date back to British colonial times and the five have been sentenced to nineteen months in prison...
The saga of the Apple Daily Taiwan has taken a strange turn, with the announcement by Singaporean entrepreneur Joseph Phua that 96% of the current Apple Daily Taiwan staff will move with him to a new publication called Next Apple News (壹蘋新聞網). The announcement was posted on the existing Apple Daily Taiwan website, along with a statement that the website would cease publication on August 31st, with the new website for Next Apple News launching today on September 1st...
