The reported escape of Hong Kong political activists to Taiwan by speedboat has created a dilemma for Taiwan’s aid agencies and private relief organizations in providing support – Taiwan’s legislature and related experts say that while relief agencies and organizations want to confront China, Taiwan’s laws prohibit illegal entry and lack a legal basis for providing legal asylum.
China wants to reunify Taiwan, which is a reluctant and autonomous government, and is attempting to control pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Over the past year, Hong Kong protesters have been struggling with the police and the new National Security Law. Fearing continued repression, some Hong Kong activists have chosen to flee.
In July, Taiwan’s China Times reported that the Taiwan Coast Guard had stopped a boat carrying five Hong Kong political activists. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council did not comment on the incident Monday, but said Taiwan authorities have a “humanitarian mechanism” in place.
Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post said another Hong Kong speedboat carrying 12 people was stopped by Chinese maritime authorities last month when it was apparently headed for Taiwan.
Law Chi-ching, a lawmaker from Taiwan’s ruling party, said none of the Hong Kong people who have been granted residency in Taiwan since January 2019 had entered the country illegally by sea. He said crossing the Taiwan Strait by dinghy is dangerous due to the weather, and the Coast Guard is sure to spot any intruding vessels.
However, once they reach land, assistance is close at hand. NGOs in Taipei have been providing help to political refugees since June 2019, when massive anti-China protests erupted in Hong Kong.
Wang Dingyu, a lawmaker from Taiwan’s ruling party, said in a Sept. 10 interview with Voice of America: “I think the countries of the free world, which Taiwan hopes to include, will do their best to help the persecuted citizens of Hong Kong, but we don’t need a lot of fanfare or even a government to take the lead in doing that.”
Wang said some Hong Kong activists have arrived in Taiwan through “informal” channels, sometimes with the help of Taiwanese entities. Supporters are encouraging activists to travel safely to Taiwan without compromising Taiwan’s own security, he said. Those arriving in Taiwan, he said, would be vetted to ensure that they were political victims.
Some nonprofit organizations that do such relief work “are in danger,” Wang said.
Wang would not disclose the channels used, entities involved and vetting procedures for fear that Chinese officials would obtain the information.
Political activists in Hong Kong are now particularly attracted to Taiwan because Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which went into effect on June 30, imposes a maximum penalty of life in prison for serious crimes related to street protests. China has administered Hong Kong, a former British colony, since 1997.
For Hong Kong activists, Taiwan is close by, belongs to the same Chinese nationality, and Taiwan enjoys democratic autonomy. The maritime distance between the two places is about 700 kilometers. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, but the two sides have been governed by two separate governments since the 1940s.
Taiwan’s government does not encourage illegal immigration, but says it will deal with requests for political asylum from Hong Kong citizens already in Taiwan on a case-by-case basis.
Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Chiu Chui-ching said, “The government has repeatedly stressed that Taiwan supports freedom and democracy in Hong Kong, but Taiwan is also a society with laws to follow.”
He said, “For security and risk reasons, Taiwan absolutely does not encourage illegal entry.”
Unlike in Europe or the United States, Taiwan lacks a detailed articulation of asylum laws that would allow Hong Kongers to stay for political reasons. However, Taiwan authorities opened an office in July to help Hong Kong citizens apply for residency.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has spoken out in support of democracy activists in Hong Kong and slammed China.
We don’t have any political asylum law to protect those Hong Kong people coming into Taiwan, so it’s quite complicated,” said Yang Nien-chu, secretary general of the Taiwan-based think tank Advanced Policy Studies Association.
Ruling party lawmaker Luo Chi-ching said that no Hong Kongers had officially applied for asylum in Taiwan.
He said the Taiwan government would take a “responsive approach” to helping Hong Kongers because a more proactive approach would be “controversial.
He added: “We would probably put those people in a more difficult position.”
According to data on the website of Taiwan’s Immigration Department, the department granted 715 Hong Kongers the right to reside in Taiwan in July, the highest number in a single month this year. That number began to spike last September as protests surged in Hong Kong. Taiwan granted residency to 5,858 Hong Kong citizens last year, compared with 3,876 in the first seven months of this year.
Some applied from Hong Kong. Others arrived in Taiwan first as tourists, investors or university students.
Taiwan should encourage more Hong Kong citizens to come to Taiwan as college students, with financial support from the government, said Lei Qian, executive director of the China21st Century think tank in Taiwan. Many of the protesters are college-age.
I think this is the easiest way to do it,” she said, “and it doesn’t involve changing the law or doing anything about immigration law.” “It’s very simple to implement.”
Pastor Huang Chunsheng of the Taipei-based Jinan Presbyterian Church, which has provided assistance to the Hong Kong activists over the past year, said.
Once the activists arrive in Taiwan, the church works with other nonprofit organizations to help the newcomers extend their stay, obtain residency permits, pay medical bills and find housing, Huang Chunsheng said.
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