SAR ties likely stuck in neutral: scholar

Economic and trade relations between Hong Kong and Taiwan will hardly improve after the Democratic Progressive Party - which has a tense relationship with the mainland - won the leadership race, says pro-Beijing scholar Lau Siu-kai.

Lau, a consultant to semi-official think tank Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said there is no official communication between the two regions, and Hong Kong's relationship with Taiwan is limited by China's stance on the island.

The stance is not expected to change after DPP's William Lai Ching-te - who is seen by the mainland as a "troublemaker" - was elected to succeed his partymate Tsai Ing-wen, who took office in 2016.

"There is only a razor-thin possibility that the relationship between both sides of the Taiwan Strait will improve," Lau said.

"The relationship between China and Taiwan will only continue to worsen, and Lai's stance, as well as the Sino-US relationship, will dictate how fast cross-strait relationship worsens."

He also expects the mainland to continue pressuring Taiwan on military, economic and foreign affairs after Lai takes office in May.

"The United States will also stay within its boundaries as it does not want to deal with another 'trouble' alongside the Russian-Ukraine war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he added.

Election Committee sector lawmaker Peter Koon Ho-ming called on the new Taiwan leader to give Hong Kong suspect Chan Tong-kai the green light to turn himself in to Taiwan authorities for allegedly killing her girlfriend Amber Poon Hiu-wing in Taipei in 2018.

"I hope Taiwan's new leader can agree to let Chan turn himself in out of humanitarian considerations and let him have the opportunity to undergo a fair trial and turn over a new leaf," Koon said.

Chan, aged 19 at the time, is wanted by Taiwan authorities on suspicion of killing his 20-year-old pregnant girlfriend Poon in Taipei. He returned to Hong Kong the same year, and his case prompted the anti-fugitive bill unrest in 2019.

Chan is currently free in Hong Kong.

Political commentator Johnny Lau Yui-siu said the election results showed that Taiwan electors are concerned about the way Tsai's administration had dealt with cross-strait tensions.

"Tsai's administration also failed to bring upon economic development in the past eight years in office, losing a lot of support among young voters," Lau said.

"For the Kuomintang, getting only 33 percent of the total votes is also the third lowest in a presidential election in the party's history. This shows that the party's voter base is actually shrinking."

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com