As Hong Kong Students held a sit-in solidarity with their compatriots Taiwan's Digital Minister laid the blame for the unrest where it belongs: With the PRC

The News Lens
Datwe: 2019/06/12
By: Cat Thomas

NGOs and democracy rights activists held a press conference outside the Hong Kong Cultural and Economic Affairs office in Taipei on Wednesday morning to speak out against the planned amendments to Hong Kong's extradition law that would allow China to apply to extradite Hong Kong citizens to the PRC mainland. Subsequently a sit-in was held outside the office attended mainly by Hong Kong students in Taiwan, that continued until the early evening.

The second reading of the bill was scheduled to be held this afternoon, with a vote to made on June 20th. Despite 1 in 7 Hong Kong citizens expressing their opposition to the planned changes at protests on Sunday – where organizers estimated just over a million in attendance – the government remained adamant it would pass the law with the second reading set for today's session in the LegCo (Legislative Council). The government stance is that the amendments close a loophole that allows fugitives to find harbor in Hong Kong. Opponents counter that the amendments will open the door to political suppression from the mainland as case-by-case extradition requests will be conducted without proper legislative oversight and once extradited the person would be at the mercy of China's opaque judicial system.

Local TV cameras and press dominated the front lines at the press conference as speakers, including Hong Kong Bookseller Wing-kei Lam (林榮基) expressed their support for protesters in Hong Kong and warned of the dangers the amendments posed to not only Hong Kongers, but anyone passing through the area. Meanwhile general attendees who had arrived for the planned sit-in hovered around the edges.

Shirley, who originally moved to Taiwan as an expat and is now living here permanently said "I'm here today because I am simply from Hong Kong and I really feel for everyone there. My girlfriend told me there is an online petition to show that we are opposing this bill being passed by the LegCo in Hong Kong. So I'm going to also go on line and sign that. I can't do much from afar, but at least we have to let them hear our voice.”
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