Taiwan’s top diplomat tells AP his government stands with Hong Kong citizens pushing for “freedom and democracy,” and would help those displaced from the territory if Beijing intervenes with greater force to quell the protests. By adamschreck
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu gestures while speaking during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press at his ministry in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. Wu was careful to say 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 who seek to reside in Taiwan.
But he added that Hong Kong police have already responded with “disproportionate force” to the protests. He said that any intervention by mainland Chinese forces would be “a new level of violence” that would prompt Taiwan to take a different stance toward helping those seeking to leave Hong Kong. China’s Communist Party insists that Taiwan is part of China and must be reunited with it, even if by force. Modern Taiwan was founded when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists, who once ruled on the mainland, were forced to retreat to the island in 1949 after Mao Zedong’s Communists took power in the Chinese Civil War.
Government surveys earlier this year showed that about 80% of Taiwanese citizens oppose reunification with China.
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