A timely and important piece in @ForeignPolicy by @lnachman32 and his team, including a survey result that shows #Taiwan is the No.1 destination for #HongKong people hoping to emigrate abroad. Canada and Australia are second and third.
The finding shows that almost half of people in #HongKong surveyed are thinking about leaving. Around 29% of those are thinking about moving to #Taiwan, 15% of those want to move to Canada and 13% of them want to move to Australia.
Despite the "lifeboat" program for all BNO passport holders, only about 10% of the #HongKong people surveyed want to move to the UK. Around 12% of them want to move to #China.
"One possible reason for the U.K.’s low ranking is that Johnson’s program only allows for BNO passport-holders, most of whom are older. Younger Hong Kongers born after the handover in 1997 may find the U.K. less appealing because they lack that passport status."
Another strong indicator is that with the high interest among #HongKong people surveyed to move to #Taiwan, #Taiwan government will need more robust program in place to deal with the potentially high volume of influx of #HK people.
"If interest in Taiwan materializes, Tsai will need to make Taiwan’s new HK assistance office even more robust. Fortunately, the issue of HK has been viewed with more consensus across party lines, with the pro-Beijing #KMT even supporting legislation to help HKers flee to Taiwan.
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The EU is expected to notify #China that it will impose tariffs on electric vehicle imports this week, firing the starting gun on a potential summer trade war with Beijing. theguardian.com/business/artic…
A formal pre-disclosure of tariffs could happen as early as Wednesday, after a lengthy investigation into China’s state subsidies for its car manufacturing, which is predicted to conclude that massive support continues to be concentrated on the EV sector.
Chinese manufacturers are already bracing themselves for new import duties, but experts anticipate that Beijing will retaliate with countermeasures that could hit a range of EU exports to the country, ranging from cognac to dairy products.
My latest: Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun Sunday issued a stern warning on Taiwan and the South China Sea at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. voanews.com/a/china-warns-…
During his 40-minute-long keynote speech, Dong accused Taiwan’s government under the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which favors highlighting Taiwan’s sovereignty, of "pursuing separation [from China] in an incremental way" …
… while external forces continue to sell arms to Taiwan and maintain "illegal" official contacts with Taiwan.
Thread: Following U.S. Secretary of Defense @SecDef's speech at #SDL24, the People's Liberation Army held a presser to hit back against the speech, criticizing Washington's stance on a range of issues including #Taiwan, South China Sea and the Middle East conflict:
“The real purpose [of The U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy] is to merge a small circle into the big circle of NATO, that is, an Asia-Pacific version of NATO, to maintain the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy.
[It] is a political rhetoric that sounds good but does no good. It builds exclusive clubs with the cold war mentality and zero-sum mindset in the name of advancing regional cooperation.”
My latest: #Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament has passed a set of legal amendments granting lawmakers greater investigative power to scrutinize the government under President Lai Ching-te, who took office on May 20. voanews.com/amp/taiwan-s-p…
Despite days of protests that have attracted hundreds of thousands of people since May 17, the two opposition parties, the China-friendly Kuomintang, or KMT, and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party, or TPP, …
… used their combined majority to push through the deal on Tuesday. The bills still require the president’s signature to become law.
My latest: Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded his two-day trip to #China Friday after Beijing and Moscow signed a joint statement and vowed to cooperate against “destructive and hostile” pressure from Washington. voanews.com/a/china-and-ru…
During meetings between Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Russian president said Moscow is willing to work with Beijing and other global south countries toward “a multipolar world,” ...
... while Xi said the two countries are committed to steering global governance “in the right direction.”
My latest: #HongKong’s adoption of Article 23 Tuesday is being criticized by foreign governments, while some business figures say the law will hasten foreign businesses’ departure from the city.
@benedictrogers @SamuelBickett @laiyanhoeric
The United Nations, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union expressed concern about the ambiguous language in the law and its speedy adoption, which was completed in less than two weeks.
Despite the international criticism, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee hailed the passage of Article 23 as “a historic moment for Hong Kong,” while the Chinese government expressed “full support” of the development.