"Taiwan Independence" Harmful to HK: Official

The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) fully supports national reunification and is strongly opposed to any proposal advocating Taiwan becoming independent, said Clement Mak, acting secretary for constitutional affairs of Hong Kong.

Speaking in the motion debate on "opposing Taiwan becoming independent" in the Legislative Council Wednesday, Mak said the early and satisfactory resolution of the question of Taiwan is not only an important matter of principle involving national sovereignty and territorial integrity, it is also in the interests of Hong Kong.

"National unification is the common wish of all Chinese people, including those of us in Hong Kong," he said. "The results of several opinion polls taken recently clearly demonstrate that this represents the consensus of the Hong Kong people."

To promote the common goal of national reunification, the Hong Kong SAR government has been promoting exchanges between the people of Hong Kong and Taiwan, Mak noted.

Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 1997, Hong Kong and Taiwan have developed closer ties in areas such as trade and commerce, culture and tourism, and Taiwan has been Hong Kong's fourth largest trading partner in the last five years, with the number of visitors between the two places growing continuously, he said.

"Many Hong Kong people have come to recognize that cross-strait relations have a direct impact on our economic prospects and social stability. It is clear that any attempt to make Taiwan independent will deal a blow to the trade and commercial exchanges between Hong Kong and Taiwan, will adversely affect our investment environment and will slow down our economic recovery," he pointed out.

Mak noted that the Hong Kong SAR government has been working hard to implement "one country, two systems" and practice "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong" since its return. "We also earnestly hope that our nation will achieve reunification at an early date. We very much hope that that can be achieved peacefully. That is the common wish of all Chinese people and that is in the best interests of Hong Kong," he said.



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