Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council slammed the Hong Kong government on Monday for attempting to block its personnel from being posted to the city by refusing their visa applications, which has led to a record low number of staff in Hong Kong.

The council’s Hong Kong-based officers have dwindled to 10 from 19, Chiu Tai-san, the new minister of the Mainland Affairs Council, told a press briefing, adding that since Hong Kong authorities were unwilling to renew their visas, officials were left with no choice but to leave the city.

Taiwan has communicated with the Hong Kong government in accordance with the procedures, and looks forward to continued exchanges between the two sides, said the 62-year-old Chiu, who was sworn in on Feb. 23 as the council’s new head.

Kao Ming-tsun, the acting director of Mainland Affairs Council’s Bureau of Hong Kong Affairs, returned to Taiwan last July after being unable to obtain a visa. Kao’s return later revealed that the Hong Kong government required Taiwanese personnel looking to be posted in the city to sign an affidavit indicating that they embraced the so-called “one-China principle.”

The principle opposes the idea that there are two separate states — the Communist Party-led People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (meaning Taiwan) — and instead asserts that there is only one sovereign state under the name China. It is also known as the 1992 Consensus.

By signing the affidavit, it means that the signatories forfeit their rights to publish words and deeds that potentially embarrass the Hong Kong government, and that they acknowledge that they cannot violate Hong Kong’s Basic Law, Hong Kong law and interfere with the city’s internal affairs.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen in 2018 appointed then counselor of the Mainland Affairs Council Lu Chang-shui as the self-governed island’s representative in Hong Kong. But he was never able to assume the post because the Hong Kong government delayed his work visa application.

At the time, Taiwanese officials criticized Hong Kong authorities for creating “unnecessary political obstacles” to Taiwan-Hong Kong relations.

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