Abstract
Beijing’s extensive and intensive united front activities in Hong Kong range from the business people to democrats and from civil servants to educators. Nevertheless, united front activities in the form of using individuals and interest groups to lobby for the political support of foreigners and overseas Chinese could be potentially and legally problematic. Even in Taiwan, united front activities conducted by Beijing on the Taiwanese can be seen as moves “violating” the Taiwan law, threatening Taipei’s national security and operating espionage work. As such, the line between legality and illegality is clear once united front work is conducted in places outside mainland China, Macao and Hong Kong. Taiwan under the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party is particularly sensitive and resistant to Beijing’s united front work, which is seen as politically subversive, legally problematic and socially destabilizing by those Taiwanese who have a very strong Taiwan identity and who harbor pro-Taiwan “independence” sentiments.
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Notes
- 1.
Sonny Lo, “Legislative Cliques, Political Parties, Political Groupings and Electoral System,” in Joseph Cheng and Sonny Lo, eds., From Colony to SAR: Hong Kong’s Challenges Ahead (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1995), pp. 51–70.
- 2.
“Predicting Xi Jinping’s support and C. Y. Leung would be elected,” Apple Daily, February 27, 2012, in https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/daily/article/20120227/16105897, access date: March 16, 2019.
- 3.
“Leung and Tang are acceptable, but casting blank votes is unacceptable,” Ta Kung Pao, March 22, 2012, p. A2.
- 4.
“James Tien’s position in the CPPCC is revoked and he refuses the retract his remarks,” Oriental Daily News, October 29, 2014, in https://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20141029/bkn-20141029195749995-1029_00822_001.html, access date: March 16, 2014.
- 5.
“James Tien opposes Leung, central government punishes him,” Apple Daily, October 29, 2014, in https://hk.news.appledaily.com/local/daily/article/20141029/18916544, access date: march 16, 2019.
- 6.
Ibid.
- 7.
Ibid.
- 8.
“James Tien resigned from the LP chairmanship and refuses to withdraw his remark,” October 30, 2014, Hong Kong Economic Times, in https://paper.hket.com/article/460635/, access date: March 16, 2019.
- 9.
Jeffie Lam, “Extradition agreement with mainland China would damage Hong Kong’s ‘safe reputation’ for business, AmCham says,” South China Morning Post, March 6, 2019, in https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2188915/extradition-agreement-mainland-china-would-damage-hong-kongs, access date: March 16, 2019.
- 10.
See its website, https://www.bpahk.org/category/press/, access date: March 16, 2019.
- 11.
See the exhibition photos of the contributions of Hong Kong business sector to China’s economic modernization, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, August 10, 2018. The authors took 330 photos from this exhibition and the content of these photos provide the data for this section.
- 12.
Ta Kung Pao, December 18, 2018, pp. A11–A14.
- 13.
Ibid.
- 14.
Ibid.
- 15.
Ho died in 2018 at the age of 95. He joined the CCP in 1939 and later quit the party after the 1989 Tiananmen incident. See Gary Cheung, “Ho Ming-sze: influential Hongkonger who fought Japanese, and brought city’s tycoons and China’s Deng Xiaoping together dies, aged 95,” South China Morning Post, September 6, 2018, in https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2163078/ho-ming-sze-influential-hongkonger-who-fought-japanese-and, access date: March 17, 2019.
- 16.
Posters on the display board describing Pao’s contributions to China’s economic reform and modernization, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, August 10, 2018.
- 17.
Ibid.
- 18.
Posters on the display board describing Kuok’s contributions to China’s economic reform and modernization, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, August 10, 2018.
- 19.
Posters on the display board of Hong Kong business people’s contributions to China’s economic reform and modernization, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, August 10, 2018.
- 20.
Posters on the display board of Hong Kong business people’s contributions to China’s economic reform and modernization, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, August 10, 2018.
- 21.
Hong Kong TVB interview with Gordon Wu, October 6, 2018.
- 22.
Ibid.
- 23.
Ibid.
- 24.
Ibid.
- 25.
Posters on the display board of Hong Kong business people’s contributions to China’s economic reform and modernization, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, August 10, 2018.
- 26.
Ibid.
- 27.
Apple Daily, November 11, 2002.
- 28.
Sum Lok-kei, “Call to explain co-location deal,” The Standard, January 4, 2018, in http://www.thestandard.com.hk/section-news.php?id=191322&sid=4, access date: March 18, 2019.
- 29.
Ming Pao, December 11, 2018, p. A18 and Ming Pao, December 10, 2018, p. A18.
- 30.
Editorial, “Working in conformity with the United States to check and balance China, Anson Chan is betraying the Hong Kong interests,” Wen Wei Po, March 18, 2019, p. A4.
- 31.
Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo, “Ideologies and Factionalism in Beijing-Hong Kong Relations,” Asian Survey, vol. 58, no. 3 (June 2018), pp. 392–415.
- 32.
Jeff Loo, “A localist’s critique of Hong Kong’s political development: Political decay, legitimacy crisis and reverse democratization,” Asian Education and Development Studies, vol. 7, no. 1 (2018), pp. 76–88.
- 33.
Apple Daily, November 8, 2017.
- 34.
Oriental Daily, January 25, 2018.
- 35.
See https://www.hk01.com/, December 16, 2017, access date: March 19, 2019.
- 36.
Jason Pan, “New Party arrests show China’s deep infiltration: pundit,” Taipei Times, June 15, 2018, p. 3, in http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2018/06/15/2003694912, access date: March 20, 2019.
- 37.
Yimou Lee and Faith Hung, “Special Report: How China’s Shadowy Agency is working to absorb Taiwan,” Reuters, November 27, 2014, in https://www.reuters.com/article/us-taiwan-china-special-report/special-report-how-chinas-shadowy-agency-is-working-to-absorb-taiwan-idUSKCN0JB01T20141127, access date: March 20, 2019.
- 38.
Ibid.
- 39.
Ibid.
- 40.
Ibid.
- 41.
See https://newtalk.tw/news/view/2018-03-03/116009, access date: March 21, 2019.
- 42.
Ibid.
- 43.
See https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-47621219, access date: March 31, 2019.
- 44.
Ibid.
- 45.
Ibid.
- 46.
“Australia cancels residency of CCP-linked billionaire,” Taipei Times, February 7, 2019.
- 47.
Ibid.
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Lo, S.SH., Hung, S.CF., Loo, J.HC. (2019). Co-opting Individuals with External Implications: Business Elites, Democrats, Civil Servants, Educators and Taiwanese. In: China’s New United Front Work in Hong Kong. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8483-7_10
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