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MAC defends review of HK district councilors' applications to visit Taiwan

ROC Central News Agency

04/08/2023 12:13 AM

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan's top government agency in charge of cross-Taiwan Strait affairs, on Friday defended its process of reviewing applications from Hong Kong district councilors who had applied to visit Taiwan but had not yet gotten approval.

The MAC said its review of all cases is based on existing regulations and procedures to maintain public order and national security, adding that whoever meets the requirements will naturally receive the approval.

According to Ming Pao, a Chinese-language newspaper based in Hong Kong, at least two of the city's district councilors from the pan-democracy camp have been waiting for months for their applications to be approved.

The councilors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suspected that the delay had something to do with their identities and their decision to take the oath to be loyal to the Hong Kong Basic Law and the government of the special administrative region of China, the newspaper reported.

Such oaths are required of Hong Kong's legislators following Beijing's adoption of the National Security Law in response to large-scale pro-democracy and anti-government protests that sometimes turned violent in 2019 in the former British colony.

One of the councilors said he (or she) booked a ticket to Taiwan in February but was unable to obtain a temporary stay permit, according to Ming Pao.

The councilor then turned to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong, where he (or she) was asked to submit a work certificate and planned itinerary.

The councilor told the newspaper that his application has neither been approved nor rejected so far.

The other councilor said he (or she), who originally planned to visit Taiwan with family members in January, was also denied a temporary stay permit when he (or she) applied online due to "occupation" concerns.

Likewise, he (or she) applied instead at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Hong Kong but has received no reply.

The MAC said Taiwan, which from Feb. 20 reopened "free and independent travel" for people from Hong Kong and Macau who do not want to join a tour group has so far received some 136,000 visitors from the two regions.

(By Chen Pei-ping and Lee Hsin-Yin)

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