Last Tuesday, it was reported that the operations of the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan (HKETCO) would be temporarily suspended on the same day with immediate effect. As the Hong Kong government had not made an announcement in advance and the incident happened suddenly, all kinds of rumors went around concerning the reason for the closure. It was not until last Friday that the Hong Kong government finally put an end to the mystery with a press release. But when doing so, it got into wolf warrior mode again. In the press release, the Hong Kong government fired a broadside at Taiwan, saying that “Taiwan has grossly interfered in Hong Kong’s affairs on repeated occasions and created irretrievable damage to Hong Kong-Taiwan relations”, adding that “Taiwan has launched the so-called Hong Kong Aid Project… offering assistance to violent protesters and people who tried to shatter Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability.” It blamed the closure of HKETCO on “Taiwan’s series of actions in recent years”, which “has severely damaged Hong Kong-Taiwan relations, gradually jeopardising the operating environment for the HKETCO in Taiwan.” With such fiery rhetoric and the assertion that Taiwan should shoulder full responsibility (for the closure), the press release could have been mistaken for a script read by a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council at first glance.

To most Hong Kongers, the Hong Kong government’s accusations against Taiwan are unsubstantiated. Just look back at the very incident that triggered the deterioration of official relations between Hong Kong and Taiwan in recent years, i.e., the case of Chan Tong-kai. The Taiwan authorities had expressed consistent hope that the case could be handled in accordance with established practice. But the Hong Kong government got into wolf warrior mode, refusing to cooperate with Taiwan on all sorts of legal pretexts. Ultimately, Carrie Lam came up with the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill completely on her own, setting off a political crisis that has continued to this day. Let me ask this: In the case of Chan Tong-kai, which side was dead set against cooperation and “created irretrievable damage to Hong Kong-Taiwan relations”? When the Hong Kong government said that “Taiwan has grossly interfered in Hong Kong’s affairs on repeated occasions”, it was obviously referring to the resistance movement in Hong Kong. However, as everybody knows, the resistance movement was a spontaneous one launched by Hong Kong’s civil society itself. How could Taiwan have intervened? Is the Hong Kong government trying to say that the amendment bill was tabled by Carrie Lam at the behest of the Taiwan authorities? All these accusations that are at odds with the truth as known by the public, as well as the assertion that “Taiwan should shoulder all responsibilities (for the closure of HKETCO), are simply an attempt to justify the suspension of HKETCO and conceal its political considerations.

The main function of HKETCO was supposed to be the promotion of exchanges and cooperation between Hong Kong and Taiwan in all aspects. But in fact, it was mainly about promoting Hong Kong culture, tourism and business activities in Taiwan and attracting investment in Hong Kong. These functions are also played by Taiwan’s office in Hong Kong in the opposite direction. Furthermore, HKETCO also played a concrete role in serving Hong Kong people in Taiwan. Let me ask this: is the closure of HKETCO a punishment for the Tsai Ing-wen administration, or is it a punishment for Hong Kong or Hong Kong people? Just contrast the closure with the myriads of ways through which the Hong Kong government has been harassing the employees of Taiwan’s Office in Hong Kong in their applications for visas. Since 2018, the Hong Kong government has been refusing to issue a visa to the new director of Taiwan’s Office in Hong Kong, making him unable to take up his post. In 2020, it suddenly required four employees of the office applying for the renewal of their visas to sign a so-called “a declaration of commitment to the ‘One China’ principle”, something that had not existed before. The Taiwan government refused, and the four employees had no choice but to return to Taiwan. There are only eight Taiwanese staffers remaining in Taiwan’s office in Hong Kong, whose visas will all expire at the end of this year. Chiu Chui-cheng, Deputy Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council, has said that the office will keep operating to the end and there is no intention of closing it to give the Hong Kong government a taste of its own medicine. This is because the Taiwanese government knows very well that the office mainly serves Taiwan (by promoting Taiwan’s tourism industry and culture and inviting business opportunities) and Taiwanese people in Hong Kong, so the closure of the office would be a punishment for itself only.

Undeniably, the relationship between the Hong Kong and Taiwan authorities may be at its lowest point since the Double Ten riots in 1956, and it is extremely likely that all Taiwanese staffers of Taiwan’s office in Hong Kong will be forced to return to Taiwan by the end of this year. But it is worth mentioning that, for some historical reasons, it is non-governmental exchanges between Hong Kong and Taiwan that have always been the backbone of the relationship between the two regions. After the 1950s, there were frequent interactions between people from Hong Kong and Taiwan because of such political factors as their resistance to the CCP. For a long time, Hong Kong newspapers used the Republic of China calendar, and football stars in Hong Kong’s flourishing football scene, such as Lam Sheung Yee, represented the Republic of China football team in international tournaments. The ROC football team that clinched the gold medal in the 1958 Tokyo Asian Games was almost entirely made up of Hong Kongers. Today the relationship between Hong Kong and Taiwanese people has only become even closer thanks to technological development. Is there really a reason it will become frosty simply because of the actions of a Hong Kong government that does not represent Hong Kong people at all? The contrast between the warm relations between Hong Kong and Taiwanese people and the governments’ indifference will continue to be the norm in the future.

Seen from another perspective, the incident also serves as a reflection of the drastic change of Hong Kong’s status. In the British colonial era and the early years after the handover, Hong Kong was regarded as a “neutral” city between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Before the “Three Linkages” (postal services, transportation and trade) commenced between the two sides, all passengers traveling between the two regions had to pass through Hong Kong. The governments of both sides of the strait regarded Hong Kong as a gray area that made things easy, while the Hong Kong government was happy to play such a role and benefited a lot from it. But now the Hong Kong government, owing to the requirement to show absolute loyalty, has to toe the line of the Central Committee of the CCP by adopting a tough approach to Taiwan and harassing Taiwan all the time. When the line between a gray area and the red mainland blurs gradually, Hong Kong, which has long prided itself on the intermediary role that it has been playing, will lose its status as a point of connection between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, not to mention the status as an international financial center. This is another manifestation of the fall of Hong Kong.

(Lam Hoi is a journalist)

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