Posted on 06/30/2005 8:49:50 PM PDT by Righty_McRight
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's president accused Beijing on Thursday of breaking its promise to give Hong Kong autonomy after its return to Chinese rule and said such "false words" were a lesson for his self-ruled, democratic island.
Chen Shui-bian, reviled by Beijing for his pro-independence stance, said there had been at least 163 cases of China violating the rights of residents in the former British colony and interfering in its judicial independence and freedom of speech.
"The so-called 'one country, two systems' are empty words, false words," Chen told a group of Hong Kong-based Taiwanese business people on the eve of the eighth anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule.
"In the past eight years, Hong Kong is one of the few regions in the world that has suffered serious setbacks in areas of personal freedom as well as law and order," Chen said.
"The same lesson cannot, and will not, happen to Taiwan's 23 million people."
The late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping sought to persuade Hong Kong of the benefits of reunification by promising to retain its free-wheeling capitalist ways for half a century after reversion to Chinese rule. He intended it to serve as a model for Taiwan's reunification with the mainland.
China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since a civil war ended in 1949 and vowed to bring the island back into the fold, by force if necessary.
Chen has repeatedly rejected Beijing's formula for reunification, saying the island's political future must be decided by its own people.
Opposition parties such as the Kuomintang, or the Nationalist Party, which adopt a more conciliatory stance toward Beijing, also oppose the formula.
"The fact that Chief Executive Donald Tsang's swearing-in ceremony took place in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing clearly indicates Hong Kong's independent identity is going from bad to worse," Chen said.
Tsang was sworn in as chief executive in Beijing last Friday, replacing the unpopular Tung Chee-hwa, who quit in March citing poor health.
Chen Shui-bian doesn't seem to be afraid of the big bad dragon.
Chen Shui-bian has the 7th Fleet, Pacific Air Forces Command (USAF), a ton of Marines in Onkinawa and a man that will take action as president. Four of a kind beats most hands.
yeah. not that i liked slick willie any but i was happy when EVEN HE sent a battle group into the Taiwan strait during their first election.
A-bian HK speech ping
It appears that Dubya no longer asks him to be quiet.
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