Taiwan Pulls Trade Office Staff Over Hong Kong Ultimatum
Voice of America
HONG KONG - Taiwan said seven employees of its trade office in Hong Kong left the financial hub on Sunday after authorities there demanded they sign a pledge recognizing China's sovereignty over the self-ruled island.
The move comes after both Hong Kong and Macau closed their trade offices in Taipei and as Beijing seeks to pile diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Hong Kong's government had demanded its trade office staff sign a "one China pledge," which supports Beijing's view that the island is part of its territory. Taiwan's current democratically elected government views the island as a de facto sovereign state.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024. Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, 2024. A member of the bomb squad of the Israeli police collects debris after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants struck in the Israeli city of Herzliya on May 26, 2024.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, right, and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, left, leave a podium after marking Independence Day in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024. Demonstrators with Georgian national and EU flags rally during an opposition protest against a foreign influence bill as they mark their country's Independence Day, in the center of in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 26, 2024.