It is based on that of Taiwan’s former long-ruling and current opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT, the Nationalist Party), which had moved to the island after defeat at the hands of the Communist Party of China (CPC) forces in 1949 following a long civil war.Īlso read: Taiwan President Warns of ‘Catastrophic’ Consequences if It Falls to China

“I feel extremely disappointed (over the law’s passage), which means China did not keep its promise to Hong Kong,” Tsai said, noting that the ‘one-country, two-systems’ model was not feasible for Taiwan.Ĭhina’s claim that Taiwan is a province awaiting ‘reunification’ is open to question. But seeing what Beijing has done to Hong Kong, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen was quick to note that the arrangement would not work in Taiwan either. Two years ago, the Hong Kong government had proposed an extradition bill which met with massive resistance – according to some estimates, as many as two million out of its population of 7.5 million had taken to the streets to oppose the move which would have facilitated an almost unchallenged handover of anyone in Hong Kong sought by the Chinese authorities.īeijing’s move to impose the NSL is seen as a direct consequence of its frustration over the level of opposition the Hong Kong government has been facing.ĭeng had offered to absorb Taiwan too with the same ‘one-country, two-systems’ formula. The imposition of the NSL, jailing of large numbers of activists and politicians in Hong Kong, bans on opposition rallies and outlawing of several non-governmental organisations has signalled to the world that China can and will blithely go back on its word. Under the Sino-British Joint-Declaration of 1984, Beijing had committed to allowing Hong Kong a ‘high degree of autonomy’ for 50 years after its handover to Chinese sovereignty, i.e. Last year, he imposed a National Security Law (NSL) on Hong Kong, thereby tearing up the ‘one-country, two-systems’ promise that had been made to the former British ruled territory by Deng Xiaoping. What is Chinese President Xi Jinping up to? In Taiwanese Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng’s words, these are the worst military tensions in decades. It may or not have been deliberate on Beijing’s part but in the few days ahead of Taiwan’s ‘Double Tenth’ – its October 10th National Day – Chinese fighter planes have made about 150 sorties over Taiwan.

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