Reuters
Date: June 13, 2016
Taiwan’s opposition Nationalist Party slammed the self-ruled island’s new government as
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou points a map of the “Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Agreement” during a monument unveiling event at Pengjia Islet, the northern most islands controlled by Taiwan, April 9, 2016. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
“suppressive” for barring former president Ma Ying-jeou from traveling to Chinese-controlled Hong Kong on the grounds of national security.
Ma’s China-friendly Nationalists lost landslide elections in January to President Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has traditionally leant towards independence from China.
They said barring Ma from visiting the former British colony of Hong Kong was “completely unhelpful for Taiwan’s internal political reconciliation and social harmony”.
“This suppressive style of the just-sworn-in DPP government is naked to all the people,” it said.
Tsai’s administration said on Sunday it had barred Ma from traveling to Hong Kong where he was due to give a speech at a Society of Publishers in Asia media awards ceremony on Wednesday. [FULL STORY]