At a Time when Beijing is tightening its control over Hong Kong civil servants and public officials, Ms. Vivian Poon, who is the general manager of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC) in Taiwan, said she will leave the TDC at the end of the month after serving for 22 years and stay in Taiwan to live. She is believed to be the first foreign public official to “jump ship” (leave the Hong Kong government or its governing team) before she reaches retirement age.
According to Taiwan’s United Daily News, Poon announced her departure at a Chinese New Year reception held by the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office and TDC, among other Hong Kong organizations in Taiwan, but did not explain in detail, saying only that it was “personal career planning. The newspaper continued to say that Pan has obtained the right of abode in Taiwan, a rare situation, and Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council did not comment on this, only to reiterate that the competent authorities will handle the application of Hong Kong people to stay in Taiwan in accordance with the law.
Hong Kong’s changing political environment has led to a rise in the number of immigrants, Taiwan is also one of the popular places, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior Immigration Department, a total of 10,813 Hong Kong people received local residence permits last year, a year-on-year increase of 85 percent, the first time in the past few years to surpass the number of mainland Chinese people to obtain residence permits, and is significantly more than 77 percent. However, only 1,576 Hong Kong people received settlement permits, a 6.9% increase year-on-year.
The right of abode in Taiwan was granted to Vivian Poon, who led the TDC office in Taiwan for nearly five years, and it is believed that her contract will not be renewed when her term expires. Before she came to Taiwan, she was stationed in Los Angeles, USA for five years; but in 2006, she returned to Hong Kong after only two years in Beijing to promote creative industries.
Hong Kong civil servants resigned and accounted for the proportion of the total number of departures in recent years, the 2018/19 financial year, 1,443 people resigned, accounting for 16.9% of those who left, a three-year high at the time; to 2019/20, the number of resignations continued to rise to 1,571 people, accounting for 18.9%; and the first quarter of 2020/21 (that is, from April to June last year), 229 people have resigned, but this figure does not reflect the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law and the number after the Hong Kong government required civil servants to sign a declaration of allegiance. Different media reports, the Social Welfare Department alone, there are about 100 people are unwilling to sign the statement and resign, and as of January this year, more senior Administrative Officer (commonly known as AO) decided to resign, at least four of them belong to the head level officials, including the fourth level of the eight levels of the head grade pay scale of the Deputy Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Dai Jia Pei and the second level of the Principal Assistant Secretary for Home Affairs Cheng Siu-hun. As for the latest resignation, it is the Political Assistant to the Secretary for Home Affairs, Lai Ying-yu, who resigned on the grounds of taking care of her Family.
Although the TDC, which Poon Wai-sum serves, is not a government department, it is a “statutory body” governed by law, and the salaries and benefits of its staff are linked to those of civil servants. The Government is considering including non-civil service contract government employees and public officers in the list of those who are required to sign a declaration of allegiance to the SAR and uphold the Basic Law.
TDC was established in Hong Kong in 1966 to promote Hong Kong’s foreign trade and has about 50 offices worldwide, while the Taiwan office was established in late 2008 and is considered a quasi-government agency by the Land Commission.
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