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Hong Kong's Plight Casts Shadow Over Taiwan's Diplomatic Coups

Natalie Liu

   China's crackdown on democratic freedoms in Hong Kong has generated
   strong reactions in Taiwan, where senior officials are mourning Hong
   Kong's losses even as they revel in a rare surge of diplomatic
   attention themselves.

   "We are saddened and alarmed to see this beacon of civil liberties
   become extinguished, in violation of the promises Beijing had made to
   the people of Hong Kong, as well as the international community,"
   Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told a Washington audience via
   teleconference this week.

   Tsai returned to the theme at a separate gathering of her Democratic
   Progressive Party (DPP) in Taipei, where concerns for Hong Kong
   dampened her obvious enthusiasm over back-to-back visits to Taiwan by a
   delegation from Japan led by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and one
   led by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, the most
   senior U.S. official to visit the island in more than 40 years.

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