China’s Hard Line in Hong Kong Boosts Beijing Critics in Taiwan

Bloomberg
Date: June 13, 2019
By: Adela Lin and Chinmei Sung

• Tsai Ing-wen recovers support after campaigning against China

• Island’s president beats rival for ruling party’s nomination

China’s heavy-handed tactics in Hong Kong could be also hurting its cause in neighboring Taiwan.

In recent weeks, Taiwan’s China-skeptic president, Tsai Ing-wen, has come out strongly against Hong Kong’s controversial proposal to allow extraditions with the mainland. The criticism has not only won Tsai praise from democracy advocates in Hong Kong, it’s helped her recover from a local election defeat last year that threatened to scuttle her bid for a second term.

On Thursday, Tsai secured the nomination of the Democratic Progressive Party, clearing her to run again under the pro-independence party’s banner in January. She overcame one of the party’s most vocal China critics in part by taking a firm line against Beijing.

Rather than take a victory lap, Tsai responded by escalating her attacks on the extradition legislation, refusing to cooperate with Hong Kong on criminal suspect transfers should it be passed. “We don’t want to be an accomplice to an evil bill,” Tsai said at a briefing Thursday.    [FULL  STORY]