TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan urged China on Friday to “sincerely start a dialogue” with people in Hong Kong after China proposed new national security legislation for the former British colony.
Taiwan will be more determined to defend democracy and freedom, and China’s “one country, two systems” proposal to rule the democratic island goes against those principles, Alex Huang, the spokesman of the presidential office, said in a statement.
China uses the system, which is meant to guarantee a high degree of autonomy, to run Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
China regards Taiwan as one of its provinces and has offered the system to it as well, although all the major political parties have rejected it.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
