INTERVIEW: Taiwan would help if HK plight worsens, Wu says

By Adam Schreck / AP, TAIPEI





Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Tuesday said that the government stands with Hong Kongers pushing for “freedom and democracy,” and would help those displaced from the territory if Beijing intervenes with greater force to quell the protests.

Speaking to The Associated Press in Taipei, Wu was careful to say that his government has no desire to intervene in Hong Kong’s internal affairs, and that existing legislation is sufficient to deal with a relatively small number of Hong Kong students or others seeking to reside in Taiwan.

However, he added that Hong Kong police have responded to the protests with “disproportionate force.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the ministry in Taipei on Tuesday. Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP

Any intervention by mainland Chinese forces would be “a new level of violence” that would prompt Taiwan to take a different stance in helping those seeking to leave Hong Kong, he said.

“When that happens, Taiwan is going to work with the international community to provide necessary assistance to those who are displaced by the violence there,” he said.

Chinese paramilitary forces have deployed to Shenzhen, just outside Hong Kong, since the protests began in June. Neither they nor the thousands of Chinese troops garrisoned in Hong Kong itself have so far been deployed to confront the protesters.

“The people here understand that how the Chinese government treats Hong Kong is going to be the future way of them treating Taiwan, and what turned out in Hong Kong is not very appealing to the Taiwanese people,” Wu said.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) says that Taiwan must be united with China, even if by force.

Beijing has said that Taiwan could be united with China under the “one country, two systems” model that applied to Hong Kong after the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

That agreement allowed Hong Kong to keep its civil liberties, independent courts and capitalist system, although many in Hong Kong accuse Beijing of undermining those freedoms under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has said that the “one country, two systems” model has failed in Hong Kong and brought the territory to “the brink of disorder.”

Government surveys earlier this year showed that about 80 percent of Taiwanese oppose unification with China.

Wu was speaking a month before Taiwanese go to the polls for presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11.

Opinion surveys suggest that Tsai is on track to secure a second term over her more China-friendly rival, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

China severed links with Taiwan’s government after Tsai took office in 2016, because of her refusal to accept Beijing’s claims on the nation.

It has since been increasing diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Taiwan.

That includes sending aircraft carriers through the Taiwan Strait — the most recent transit was last month — and peeling away Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies. The Solomon Islands and Kiribati in September switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing.

A second term for Tsai would see a continuation of Taiwan’s tough stance against its much larger neighbor.

“If President Tsai is re-elected, we’ll continue to ... maintain the ‘status quo’ across the Taiwan Strait. We’ll continue to send out goodwill gestures to China,” Wu said. “We want to make sure that the Chinese have no excuse in launching a war against Taiwan.”

Taiwan lacks a seat at the UN. It counts on its 15 official diplomatic allies to help bolster its claims to international legitimacy.

Safeguarding diplomatic relations with those remaining countries is a top priority for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wu said.

“I think our relations with these 15 countries are quite strong at this moment, and we don’t worry that much,” he said.

Taiwan also has unofficial relationships with several other countries, including the US, which is bound by law to ensure its defense.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has increased support for Taiwan even as it is embroiled in a trade dispute with China.

The US this year agreed to sell Taiwan 66 F-16 fighter jets worth US$8 billion, prompting complaints by China.

Wu said that Taiwan’s relationship with the US is the best it has been in 40 years — a reference to the four decades since Washington formally shifted its diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing.

The ongoing trade dispute between the US and China is creating opportunities and challenges for Taiwan, Wu said.

Taiwanese firms are big investors in China, and some are moving their businesses away from China as the trade dispute drags on, he said, citing US$23 billion of investments pledged by companies relocating operations back to Taiwan.

However, he said that Taiwan enjoys “strong bipartisan support” in Washington and is not concerned that its status with the US could be used as a bargaining chip in the trade negotiations.

“We are being assured ... by very senior Trump administration officials that their relations with Taiwan is independent of relations with any other country and to the United States, Taiwan is a very important partner,” he said.