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Taiwan
Hong KongPolitics

Taiwanese mayor expected to meet Carrie Lam and Beijing’s top representative on Hong Kong visit this month

  • Han Kuo-yu, a pro-Beijing veteran in the Kuomintang party, will not discuss fugitive law with Lam, source says
  • Former lawmaker earned fame for winning mayoral race in Kaohsiung, a rival stronghold

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Han Kuo-yu after winning the mayoral election in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on November 24, 2018. The election in the Democratic Progressive Party stronghold was seen a crucial victory for Han and the Kuomintang party. Photo: AP
Jeffie LamandKimmy Chung

The new Beijing-friendly mayor of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is expected to hold separate meetings with Hong Kong’s leader and the city’s top representative of mainland China during a visit this month.

Sources inside the government and Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing camp said on Thursday that Han Kuo-yu, a star in the Kuomintang party, was “very likely” to meet Wang Zhimin, the director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong.

Han would arrive as debate intensifies over the Hong Kong government’s proposed extradition agreement with Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy bloc and its business sector oppose the plan, which would allow the reciprocal transfer of fugitives to jurisdictions where the city lacks a formal extradition treaty. Several Taiwanese lawmakers have also spoken out against the proposal.
Wang Zhimin (left), the central government's liaison office chief in Hong Kong, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in January 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang
Wang Zhimin (left), the central government's liaison office chief in Hong Kong, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in January 2019. Photo: Sam Tsang
Despite the controversy, a Hong Kong government source said the extradition agreement would not be on the agenda when Han met Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ng or. Han was expected to arrive on March 22.

“We are still arranging the meeting, but it is going to be a courtesy call with no concrete agenda on the table,” the source said.

Han, 61, was a member of the Legislative Yuan, the island’s legislature, from 1993 to 2002. He gained fame in November for winning the mayoral race for Kaohsiung, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) stronghold.

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