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Hong Kong extradition bill
ChinaPolitics

How the storm over Hong Kong’s extradition bill battered Beijing’s ‘one country, two systems’ ambitions for Taiwan

  • President Tsai Ing-wen’s re-election prospects boosted as Hong Kong protests highlight city’s ties with mainland
  • Han Kuo-yu, candidate for Beijing-friendly opposition Kuomintang, says Taiwan will adopt the arrangement ‘over my dead body’

Reading Time:4 minutes
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As clashes continued in Hong Kong, Tsai Ing-wen secured the Democratic Progressive Party's nomination to seek re-election as Taiwan’s president. Photo: Facebook
Minnie Chan,Kristin HuangandMatt Ho
As protesters and police clashed outside Hong Kong’s legislature over the city’s extradition bill on Wednesday last week, Taiwan’s pro-independence ruling party was wrapping up its primary poll.
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The next day, buoyed by the tensions in Hong Kong, President Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of the self-ruled island, emerged to beat her former premier, William Lai Ching-te, and secure the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) ticket to seek re-election in January.

But it did not stop there – even front-running presidential contenders from the mainland-friendly main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), including former Foxconn chairman Terry Gou and popular Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu, are now telling voters that Hong Kong’s extradition bill proves a “one country, two systems” for Taiwan similar to the governing formula for Hong Kong would not work for the island.
By Saturday, Han had openly criticised the Hong Kong authorities’ handling of the controversial legislation that would allow the handing over of fugitives to Taiwan as well as to mainland China – a clear shift in position.

“If I had the chance to become the president of the Republic of China, [I] guarantee there will never be one country, two systems on Taiwanese soil, unless … unless … unless … over my dead body,” Han said, referring to the island’s official name.

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“There were so many people taking to the streets because the Hong Kong government did not heed its citizens … it is so terrible,” the United Daily News reported the Kaohsiung mayor and presidential hopeful as saying at his campaign rally.

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