(Clearwisdom.net) The Mainland Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan) has ordered its office in Hong Kong to submit a protest letter to the Hong Kong government regarding the violent deportation of Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners by the Hong Kong government on around July 1, 2007. The Hong Kong government recently rejected the letter of protest. On August 15, 2007, the Mainland Affairs Council said that the rejection will have a negative influence on the relationship between Taiwan and Hong Kong and also give the international community cause to question the human rights situation in Hong Kong.
In the announcement, the Mainland Affairs Council said that 500 Taiwanese citizens, all of whom had legal travel documents, were detained when they entered Hong Kong on the 10th anniversary of the Transfer of the Sovereignty of Hong Kong. Some of them were violently deported.
Those Taiwanese citizens, including many old people and children, posed no danger to Hong Kong, but they were treated as dangerous criminals. The Hong Kong government refused to let Taiwanese organizations help the detainees. Taiwan is very concerned about the situation.
The Mainland Affairs Council said that the behavior of the Hong Kong government and its rejection of the protest letter shows that it is not willing to correct its mistake. The Mainland Affairs Council expressed its disappointment and said it could not accept this attitude.
On August 2, 2007, the US Congressional Human Rights Caucus held a round table discussion on the violent deportations. During the discussions, Chu Wanchi, a human rights lawyer from Taiwan, and two other Taiwanese reporters pointed out that the deportations were carried out under orders from Zeng Qinghong, a high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official.
