Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
Taiwan to maintain Hong Kong office despite visa problems
Huizhong Wu, The Associated Press
Mon., June 21, 2021, 3:01 a.m.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan says it will continue operating
its de facto consulate in Hong Kong in spite of visa difficulties for its
staffers while also providing consular services online.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong has been unable to get new visas for its staff after the Hong Kong government in 2018 began requiring that Taiwanese personnel at the office sign a statement accepting the “one-China principle,” Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said. The office currently has just one staffer left in Hong Kong whose visa is due to expire next month.
The one-China principle holds that Taiwan is part of China and the Communist government in Beijing is China’s sole legitimate government. Taiwan has refused to sign the statement.
The Hong Kong government also required the heads of Taiwan's trade office and tourism bureau in the city to sign a similar statement, the head of the Mainland Affairs Council said Monday.
The Hong Kong government did not impose such requirements in the past, Chiu Tai-san said. “The goal is to belittle our country and force our staff to bow their heads to the Beijing authorities," he said.
Self-rule Taiwan has called the move “political suppression” and strongly condemned the Hong Kong government's action.
Ma Xiaoguang, the spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office, which falls under China’s Cabinet, said in a statement Sunday that exchanges between Hong Kong and “Chinese Taiwan” must be based on the one-China principle.
Taipei has had a quasi-diplomatic presence in Hong Kong since Taiwan’s split with mainland China during a civil war in 1949 through Hong Kong’s handover from British colonial rule to Beijing’s control in 1997.
Macao, a semi-autonomous Chinese region, shut its representative office in Taipei last week. Hong Kong closed its office in Taipei in May, saying that Taiwan had provided assistance to “violent protesters."
Taiwan has quietly helped Hong Kong pro-democracy activists seeking asylum as many started to flee the city after China imposed a tough new national security law in June 2020 which laid the groundwork for a crackdown on protests.
Since the election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, China has stepped up diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Taiwan, poaching its diplomatic allies and, starting last year, sending military planes near it on a near-daily basis.
Translation
台灣台北（美聯社）—— 台灣表示，儘管其工作人員面臨簽證困難，將繼續在香港營運其有實無名的領事館,
同時還將提供在線領事服務。
台灣大陸事務委員會說, 在香港政府於 2018 年開始要求駐港台北經濟文化辦事處的台灣人員簽署接受“一個中國原則”的聲明後，就一直無法為其工作人員獲得新簽證，辦公室目前只剩下一名工作人員留在香港，其簽證將於下個月到期。
一個中國原則認為台灣是中國的一部分，北京的共產黨政府是中國唯一的合法政府。台灣拒絕簽署聲明。
大陸事務委員會負責人周一表示，香港政府還要求台灣駐港貿易辦事處,
以及旅遊局負責人簽署類似聲明。
邱太三表示, 香港政府過去沒有強加這樣的要求。他說: “目的是貶低我們的國家，迫使我們的工作人員向北京當局低頭” 。
自治中的台灣稱此舉是“政治打壓”，並強烈譴責港府的做法。
隸屬於中國內閣的國台辦的發言人馬曉光週日在一份聲明中表示，香港與“中國台灣”的交往必須基於一個中國的原則。
自 1949 年內戰期間台灣與中國大陸分裂以來，台北一直在香港具有準外交存在。香港於 1997 年從英國殖民統治移交給北京的控制。
中國的半自治地區澳門上週關閉了在台北的代表處。香港於 5 月關閉了在台北的辦事處，聲稱台灣向 “暴力抗議者” 提供了幫助。
在中國於 2020 年 6 月實施嚴厲的新國家安全法, 作為鎮壓抗議活動奠定基礎後，許多人開始逃離這座城市，台灣悄悄地幫助了尋求庇護的香港民主活動人士。
自 2016 年台灣總統蔡英文當選以來，中國加大了對台灣的外交、經濟和軍事壓力，向其外交盟友挖角。並從去年開始幾乎每天都向台灣派出軍機。
So,
Taiwan will continue operating its de facto consulate in Hong Kong in spite of
visa difficulties for its staffers, and also will continue providing consular
services online to Hong Kong people.
Note:
Chiu Tai-san (Chinese: 邱太三; pinyin: Qiū Tàisān; born on 30th August 1956) is a
Taiwanese lawyer and politician. In 2021, he was appointed minister of the
Mainland Affairs Council. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiu_Tai-san)
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