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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 DPP supports HK autonomy after Yau Wai-ching’s draft letter is published
Hong Kong legislator-elect Yau Wai-ching of the Youngspiration party shows the judge’s ruling at a press conference outside the Photo: EPA
By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
The Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） called on the Chinese and Hong Kong governments to ensure democracy and autonomy in Hong Kong after a draft letter from disqualified Hong Kong legislator-elect Yau Wai-ching （游蕙禎） to President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） was published on Tuesday.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times （the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper） published the draft letter by Yau, which called on Tsai to qualify Taiwan’s stance on sovereignty of Hong Kong’s New Territories, before Yau and her Youngspiration party later retracted the letter.
Yau wrote that the New Territories had been “stolen by China for 19 years” when a convention signed between the UK and the Qing Dynasty that leased the New Territories to the UK expired in 1997, the report said.
Taiwan, which has the original copy of the convention and another two treaties concerning the cession of Hong Kong and Kowloon, should clarify its stance on the New Territories “under the framework of the Republic of China Constitution,” the draft letter said.
An interpretation of Hong Kong’s Basic Law by the Chinese National People’s Congress on Nov. 7, which barred Yau and legislator-elect Sixtus “Baggio” Leung （梁頌恆） from taking office, was a breach of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the sole legal basis for China’s claim of sovereignty over Hong Kong, the letter said.
The declaration deals only with the sovereignty of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, but not the New Territories, so Taiwan should have a say on their status, Yau wrote.
Yau originally planned to read the letter in a live Facebook video, but scrapped the plan amid the fallout after the publication of the letter.
Yau wrote on Facebook that the letter was an abandoned draft, but she did consider writing a letter to Tsai to engage the president on China’s interpretation of the Basic Law and the “collapse of ‘one country, two systems.’”
She apologized for causing the misunderstanding to the Liberty Times and all Hong Kongers, adding that she would not act recklessly, as she values Hong Kong’s and Taiwan’s relationship.
The DPP on Tuesday said the party supports Hong Kongers in their pursuit of democracy and freedom.
The DPP called on the Hong Kong government to listen to the public and seek to develop a harmonious political environment.
The DPP also urged the Chinese government to honor its pledge of maintaining a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong under the “one country, two systems” framework and to engage Hong Kongers with respect over their pursuit of democracy and freedom.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
