Continuing the Fight

Agnes Chow surrounded by media and supporters tonight at Tamar

Tonight a few thousand people came out in support of Agnes Chow Ting who was told by an electoral officer yesterday that she was disqualified to run in the March 11 by-election.

The police say 2,000 showed up, but from the pictures it looks like more than that, as they gathered at government headquarters in Tamar, at one point spilling out onto Tim Mei Avenue.

Some were disappointed by the low turnout, but organizers downplayed it and instead focused on channeling the anger and frustration towards the government.

"If we cannot enter Legco, it is to force us to be forever dissidents," said Demosisto secretary general Joshua Wong Chi-fung, accusing the government of blocking young people from being heard in the legislature.

Will Edward Yui be able to run in the by-election?

Meanwhile, legal experts say the government has no grounds for banning other candidates from running in the by-election. Tomorrow is the deadline for candidates to be nominated, and attention is now focused on Edward Yiu Chung-yim, running for Kowloon West, and Au Nok-hin, who is replacing Chow for the Hong Kong Island seat.

University of Hong Kong principal law lecturer Eric Cheung Tat-ming cautioned that the city's electoral system would become "arbitrary" if Yiu and Au were not allowed to run in the by-election because of what they had done in the past.

Yiu had met with Taiwan's pro-independence New Power Party, while Au had written an article calling for pro-democratic groups to band together to defend Hong Kong as it "goes through a long period of darkness".

"If that can be done, we don't know where the line would be drawn... You can even question pro-establishment politicians over their meeting with Tsai Ing-wen," Cheung said.

Au Nok-hin replaces Chow for the Hong Kong Island seat

He was referring to the city's biggest pro-Beijing party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong that led a delegation to Taiwan to meet with pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party chairwoman Tsai, who later became the island's president.

Why is the Hong Kong government politicizing the electoral process? It just makes it even more obvious that someone in the background wants to manipulate things, while wanting to destroy our faith in the city's institutions that we hold dear.

But it looks like "the invisible hand" doesn't seem to care about appearances. It just wants things to go its way and shut out the next generation.

Taiwanese Activist Jailed

Lee Ming-cheh sentenced yesterday to five years in jail for subversion

A Taiwanese rights activist was the first person from Taiwan to be convicted of subversion on the mainland and sent to five years in jail.

Lee Ming-cheh was sentenced at Yueyang Intermediate People's Court in Hunan province along with his co-defendant Peng Yuhua, a mainland rights activist, also convicted of subverting state power and handed a seven-year prison sentence.

Reaction in Taiwan was immediate, with the Mainland Affairs Council describing Lee's sentence as "unacceptable" and demanded his release as soon as possible.

The words on Lee's wife's arms say that she is proud of him

Lee and Peng were also deprived of their political rights for two years and both said they would not appeal their sentences. This is interesting considering Taiwan does not consider itself a part of the mainland, so how can Lee have his political rights taken away in the first place?

The judge said Peng had planned and set up an illegal organization with the purpose of subverting state power and attacking China's constitution. Drawing evidence from his online chat history, the court found Lee was "an active participant" in the actions, which grew from the internet chat group he started in 2012.

Apparently the group expanded across the mainland, and its key members held meetings in person. The judge said Lee and Peng encouraged others to be hostile towards state power.

Roseann Rife, East Asia research director at Amnesty International, said Lee was a victim of "a politically motivated prosecution".

Lee's co-defendant Peng Yuhua (right) sentenced to 7 years

"The evidence against him is not credible, his conviction preposterous but predictable. He is the latest to suffer under the [mainland] Chinese authorities' relentless attack against human rights and democracy activists," Rife said.

Lee was a volunteer for the Taiwan Association for Human Rights who went missing during a visit on the mainland in March, and was held for more than 170 days before his court appearance in September. Up until then he had been traveling to the mainland without incident for a decade.

The Central government later confirmed he was being investigated for allegedly endangering national security.

Lee previously worked for Taiwan's governing party, the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.

It's sad to see Lee has been convicted and sentenced, but surely he would have known the risks. In the meantime relations between Taiwan and the mainland are going to get worse following this sentencing.

Lee's jailing may also be a warning shot to Hong Kong's independence and pro-democracy activists to not incite others to follow them...

Taiwan's New Chapter

Tsai Ing-wen is Taiwan's first female president who was inagurated today

Today is a historic day with the inauguration of Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's first female president.

She wore a straight-forward white jacket and black slacks, which reflected her speech that aimed to get Taiwan back on track and become less reliant on the mainland, much to the ire of Beijing.

Tsai campaigned on this platform which won her and the Democratic Progressive Party a decisive victory, and so she was keen to continue on this theme. She said Taiwan would pursue a new economic model of sustainable development based on the core values of innovation, employment and equitable distribution.

She also stressed the importance to building ties regionally and globally.

Former president Ma Ying-jeou looking sombre with Tsai

However what everyone was listening for was how Tsai would deal with relations with Beijing.

While she acknowledged discussion between the two sides, she stopped short of endorsing the so-called 1992 consensus, where at the time, China and Taiwan agreed they were part of "one China", with each side having its own interpretation of what that meant.

Agreed upon by the previous Kuomintang government, it was the basis on which the two sides began having warming relations, resulting in the start of direct flights, more tourism and investment.

However in the last few years, many Taiwanese felt that former President Ma Ying-jeou sold out and they were fed up with being overwhelmed with mainland tourists, a similar refrain with Hong Kong.

As a result, the Taiwanese wanted someone who would take a stand against the mainland and Tsai was the chosen one.

Nevertheless, the point of contention is that Tsai doesn't endorse the so-called 1992 consensus, instead recognizes it as a "historic fact", which annoyed Beijing immensely.

Paraphernalia featuring Tsai's face on inauguration day

"The two governing parties across the strait must set aside the baggage of history and engage in positive dialogue, for the benefit of the people on both sides," she said.

This led to Beijing issuing a statement via Xinhua, saying Tsai did not go far enough in acknowledging the so-called 1992 consensus, calling her remarks "an incomplete examination paper", as if she were a petulant student.

Since her election, Beijing has taken a more aggressive stance on Tsai and her administration, and renew challenges to the island's recognition by 22 states including the Vatican.

Tsai seems ready to deal with Beijing's combative style with her own way of doing things. The former law professor and trade negotiator knows exactly what she's up against and it remains to be seen how deftly she deals with the hisses and criticisms across the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan has Spoken!

Tsai Ing-wen will help Taiwan become a more a more independent state

Taiwan has gone one better than the United States by electing its first female president.

Tsai Ing-wen, opposition leader of the Democratic Progressive Party won a landslide victory against the incumbent Kuomintang, with a clear indication that Taiwanese are tired of President Ma Ying-jeou kowtowing to Beijing and want a more independent island state.

In her victory speech tonight, Tsai said the election outcome clearly indicated how ingrained democracy had become in Taiwan, adding: "The people of Taiwan have elected a government that will defend Taiwan's sovereignty."

The election was contentious, but the DPP won decisively

She also warned China that "suppression" would harm cross-strait ties. "Our democratic system, national identity and international space must be respected. Any forms of suppression will harm the stability of cross-strait relations," she said.

The ball is now in Beijing's corner and it will be interesting to see how it reacts to this definitive election result.

One wonders if this is seen as a slap in the face to the mainland after the historic meeting between the two leaders, Xi Jinping and Ma in November in Singapore.

With Tsai in charge, it looks like Beijing will have to cool things for a while and perhaps secretly hope she self destructs... or will the mainland engineer a political hot potato that will destroy her political career?

She comes from an academic background, which is apparently why she appealed to a lot of young voters, and perhaps the Sunflower movement -- made up of students -- had something to do with sweeping Tsai to power.

How will China react to the Kuomintang loss?

While the political pundits crunch the numbers to see how voters voted, it will be fascinating to watch this new dynamic with Tsai's presidency. Will she be strong enough to stand up to Xi and his growing influence regionally and globally? How will the male-dominated Zhongnanhai deal with a leader who is a woman?

We're excited to watch from the sidelines...