FORMER PRESIDENT CANNOT VISIT HONG KONG|國安考量 馬申請6/15赴港總統府駁回

Former president Ma Ying-jeou received an invitation to speak in Hong Kong on June 15. As former presidents' have their movements out of the country regulated, he applied to the Presidential Office. However, his application was rejected on June 12. The Presidential Office said that the former president is still privy to state confidential information, as he left the post less than a month ago, thus it did not approve the application. Former president Ma Ying-jeou applied the Presidential Office, to go to Hong Kong to attend the SOPA 2016 Awards for Excellence in Journalism on June 15 and deliver a speech. On June 12, the Presidential Office held a press conference, saying that the ad hoc evaluation was based on the fact that the former president was privy to national security secrets, and Hong Kong was a sensitive place for security. Also that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region had not previously cooperated with Taiwan's National Security Bureau and so, for all these reasons, it rejected the application. Presidential Office spokesperson Huang Zhong-yan said that Ma could refer to his own experience as president and how making speeches at international -profile events was dealt with. In reply, Ma Ying-jeou 's office issued a statement saying that it regretted the decision. It felt this showed a lack of respect for the former president and it was damaging to the reputation of the country as a place of freedom and democracy. The decision cast doubt on the government and people would draw their own conclusions. The KMT caucus said that the so-called assessment committee had only ever dealt with this case and the whole course of the policy decision was politically motivated. The Presidential Office suggested in the light of this case and experience, the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of Justice should establish relevant laws to protect state secrets so that a normal institutional process could be used for outgoing presidential applications to go abroad. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR