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Coronavirus pandemic
ChinaPolitics

Hong Kong asylum seekers hit by Taiwan’s coronavirus travel ban

  • Visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau no longer allowed to enter self-ruled island as Taipei seeks to control spread of deadly disease
  • But dissidents and protesters who fled Hong Kong fear they will be arrested if forced to return home

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Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing Kee’s visitor permit for Taiwan is valid only for another two months. Photo: EPA-EFE
Lawrence Chung
A travel restriction imposed by Taiwan to help contain the coronavirus outbreak has created a new dilemma for protesters and dissidents from Hong Kong seeking asylum on the self-ruled island.
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Since February 6, Taipei has banned all visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, with the island’s Central Epidemic Command Centre saying the restriction would remain in place until the contagion had been brought under control.

For people like Lam Wing-kee, the announcement came as unwelcome news. The Hong Kong bookseller fled to Taiwan in April last year fearing he might be handed over to the authorities in mainland China under a now-withdrawn extradition bill.
The former manager of Causeway Bay Bookstore was detained in mainland China in 2015 after being accused of selling books critical of China’s leaders. The same fate befell four other Hong Kong booksellers.

Lam said his entry permit for Taiwan was only valid for another two months and then he would have to return home.

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