Taiwan deports two Chinese nationals for harassing pro-Hong Kong event

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's government said on Thursday that two Chinese nationals had been deported after they harassed a protest held by Hong Kong exiles in Taipei on China's national day.

Democratically governed Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory, is home to a large Hong Kong community who have left the city following the imposition of tough new national security laws after widescale anti-government protests.

The Hong Kong Outlanders group said that on Oct. 1, China's national day, they had arranged a small protest in central Taipei's fashionable Ximen shopping district when they were verbally harassed and pushed around by a group of Chinese people.

The police then intervened, the group added.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said that the two Chinese nationals who were involved in the incident, who were meant to be in Taiwan visiting relatives, had had their entry permits revoked and been deported.

"The government will take immediate and strict action against any mainland Chinese who come to Taiwan and engage in illegal or irregular behaviour that endangers our national security and social stability," it said in a statement.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China is in the middle of its week-long national day holiday.

There have been similar incidents in Taiwan before.

Hong Kong singer and activist Denise Ho was attacked in 2019 by a masked man who threw red paint at her at a rally in Taiwan held in support of anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)