Relations between Hong Kong and Taiwan have also been deteriorating since Beijing turned to high-handed methods to deal with Hong Kong people. On Tuesday, the Hong Kong government suddenly announced the closure of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, while Taiwan’s office in Hong Kong may also face the same fate. Some Taiwan scholars warned that China has been difficult to import high-tech products under U.S. sanctions, and now even Taiwan and Hong Kong this re-export channel is also blocked, the ultimate blow is China’s high-tech industry.
The Hong Kong government suddenly announced at noon on Tuesday (18) that the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan (hereinafter referred to as: ETO) temporarily ceased to operate with immediate effect.
A spokesman for the SAR government replied to our inquiry, only replied that “it has nothing to do with the current epidemic in Taiwan, and there is nothing else to add at the moment”.
According to a press release issued by the Hong Kong government, during the temporary suspension of the ETO’s operation, the government will continue to handle general inquiries, requests for assistance from Hong Kong residents in Taiwan, and provide Hong Kong-related information to Taiwan residents through the 1823 and 1868 hotlines and the GovHK website.
According to the data, the office in Taiwan currently has 12 staff members, four of whom were appointed to Taiwan from Hong Kong, and the rest are Taiwan employees.
As for the Taiwan office in Hong Kong, the Land Commission said earlier that there are only 8 people left to be appointed by Taiwan, and the visas of these people will expire one after another at the end of the year, and there are another 55 Hong Kong employees. 8 people are still unknown whether they can obtain visas.
We asked the Taiwan Land Commission, the deputy director of the Land Commission, Qiu Chui-cheng said to respect but regret.
The Hong Kong government’s decision to temporarily suspend the operation of its office in Taiwan today, regardless of the reason, is respected by us. The Hong Kong office in Taiwan was established in accordance with the 2011 consensus on the establishment of mutual offices between Taiwan and Hong Kong, and has been operating for many years, now the Hong Kong government has unilaterally made this decision, we are very regretful.
As for whether the offices in Hong Kong are also affected, Qiu said that in order to protect the rights and interests of Taiwanese in Hong Kong, the staff of the office in Hong Kong will remain at their posts and provide services related to the people of Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency quoted Hong Kong sources as saying that the reason for the suspension of the Economic and Trade Office is the inability of the head of the office to obtain a work visa issued by the Taiwanese side; but at the same time quoted Taiwanese sources as saying that the head of the Hong Kong office in Taiwan returned to Hong Kong one or two years ago after the end of his term, the Hong Kong government has not sent a replacement candidate, nor has he applied to the Taiwanese side for a relevant work visa.
Sampo: limited impact on Hong Kong people but worried whether it will deal with Taiwan’s institutions in Hong Kong
Dr. Sampson, a commentator on current affairs, told the station that the suspension of the office in Taiwan has a very limited impact on Hong Kong people in Taiwan, only some documents such as “widow’s paper” (no marriage record certificate) to be certified by the office, but there are many ways to replace it. Thorpe mentioned that the move is a bigger issue is whether it will deal with Taiwan’s institutions in Hong Kong, he said the Hong Kong government’s statement reflects the political reasons for the decision, questioning whether the Hong Kong government implies that Taiwan will also suspend the operation of the office in Hong Kong. He expects future relations between the two sides will only get frostier, not better.
Thorpe said: we all know that because Taiwan does not recognize the 1992 Consensus, Taiwan’s institutions in Hong Kong are now basically waiting for (Taiwan employees) visa expiration, minutes to retreat, because there is no way to continue, this thing will speed up it? Because Hong Kong has suspended its presence in Taiwan, does it mean that it wants to kill the viability of Taiwan’s presence in Hong Kong to some extent? This is a question mark, but it seems that the risk is increasing.
Taiwan-Hong Kong relations began to take a sharp turn for the worse in 2018
In July 2020, Acting Director Gao Ming-cun’s work visa expired, and it was rumored that Gao was unable to extend his visa because he refused to sign the “one-China principle” pledge. The visa was not extended because he refused to sign the “one-China principle” commitment.
The Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan was established on December 19, 2011, is a unit of the Hong Kong Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, specializing in economic, trade and cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and Taiwan.
China may be the biggest loser if the ETO is suspended
In case the Hong Kong government finally closes the ETO in Taiwan, what will be the impact on the economic and trade relations between Taiwan and Hong Kong? Hong Kong and Taiwan have close economic and trade relations, with Taiwan being Hong Kong’s second largest trading partner and Hong Kong being Taiwan’s fourth largest trading partner. The average annual growth rate of bilateral trade between the two places is 8.3%, with total trade increasing from HK$410 billion in 2019 to HK$500 billion in 2020, an increase of 20.4%.
The reporter checked the information and found that Hong Kong is an important re-export port for trade between Taiwan and the mainland. By Taiwan through Hong Kong re-export trade volume to mainland China, in 2020 up to more than 420 billion Hong Kong dollars, of which 80% of the re-exported goods for electronic parts, that is, electric equipment, electric components, etc., and according to the Taiwan Land Commission data, but also shows that the main re-exports include “electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof”, “integrated circuits”, and diodes. “Integrated circuits”, as well as diodes, transistors and similar semiconductor devices.
When Taiwan’s main exports to Hong Kong or mainland China are electronic parts, what kind of losses will Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China suffer in case the ETO is closed? National Central University Professor of Economics Qiu Junrong analysis to this station, Hong Kong and Taiwan economic and trade mainly to re-export and financial services, the three places will certainly encounter the problem of higher costs. But to compare the economic losses encountered by the three places, he believes that the development of chips in China or suffer the biggest impact.
Qiu Junrong said: either Taiwan’s Taiwan business in China, or in China’s local electronics manufacturers, in terms of access to components may have some impact, after all, the supply chain has been specific in that place. If the impact is greater, it may be Hong Kong and Chinese companies, Taiwan will also have. Now when it comes to electronic components, it seems that the lack of Chinese enterprises, including chips (chips), Taiwan’s supply chain may now rely on China’s supply chain is not so smooth, of course, encountered some impact, but critically speaking, I’m afraid that the impact of China will come more.
He also estimated that if Taiwan can no longer rely on Hong Kong as an entrepot or the development of financial services, or the need to find another alternative, choose to other ports in China, Hong Kong also has a certain impact.
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