“Ideas are bulletproof”. Three words, stamped out in multicolour tiles above a doorway, represented one of the last vestiges of Hong Kong’s once vibrant literary spaces. On 31 March, Mount Zero, a beloved independent bookstore in Hong Kong, closed its doors for the final time. Hundreds of Hongkongers came to say goodbye. The bookshop, which opened in 2018, took its slogan from the 2005 film V for Vendetta; the eponymous antihero’s Guy Fawkes mask occasionally appeared during Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. Mount Zero’s closure, which was announced after what the…
Tag: Hong Kong
US-funded Radio Free Asia shuts down in Hong Kong over safety concerns
US-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) has closed its Hong Kong bureau over safety concerns for its staff in the wake of a new national security law known as Article 23. “Actions by Hong Kong authorities, including referring to RFA as a ‘foreign force’, raise serious questions about our ability to operate in safety with the enactment of Article 23,” its president, Bay Fang, said in a statement on Friday. The new law comes with stiffer punishments from several years up to life in jail for crimes including treason, sedition, state…
Radio Free Asia Leaves Hong Kong, Citing Security Law
The United States-funded news service Radio Free Asia said on Friday that it has closed its office in Hong Kong because of concerns about the city’s recently enacted national security law that targets so-called foreign interference. Hong Kong’s new national security law, which was passed with unusual speed earlier this month, raised “serious questions about our ability to operate in safety,” the broadcaster’s president and chief executive, Bay Fang, said in a statement. Radio Free Asia said that it had relocated some employees from Hong Kong to Taiwan, the United…
UK ‘slow to hold China to account’ for cyber-attacks against MPs and voters
The UK government has been too slow to respond to cyber-attacks by China, the head of an international group of parliamentarians focusing on the issue has said, ahead of expected new British sanctions against Beijing. Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, is expected to announce the sanctions in the Commons on Monday, after what the UK says have been cyber-attacks against MPs and peers, as well as one targeting the Electoral Commission in which Beijing allegedly accessed the personal details of about 40 million voters. Three MPs and a peer…
Lies, ideology and repression: China seals Hong Kong’s failed-state fate | Simon Tisdall
So farewell, Hong Kong. The vibrant, pulsating city-state that grew, under British rule, into one of the world’s great financial, business, cultural and tourism hubs has finally been brought to heel. Browbeaten, abused, silenced. Trust Xi Jinping, China’s dementor president, to suck out all the joy. Last Wednesday was the UN’s International Day of Happiness. But it was a sad, bad day for Hong Kong. That was the moment residents woke up to the news that Hong Kong’s puppet legislature, acting on Beijing’s orders, had unanimously abolished its right to…
Hong Kong’s ‘alarming’ national security law comes into force
Hong Kong’s new national security law came into force on Saturday, putting into immediate effect tough penalties of up to life imprisonment for crimes including treason and insurrection. The law – commonly referred to as article 23 – targets five categories of national security crimes, and was swiftly passed by Hong Kong’s opposition-free legislature on Tuesday. The US, the EU, Japan and Britain have been among the law’s strongest critics, with the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, saying it would “further damage the rights and freedoms” of those in the…
Article 23: China hits back at criticism of Hong Kong’s hardline new security law
China has accused western governments and the United Nations of slander after they criticised Hong Kong’s new national security law, which was rushed through the city’s pro-Beijing parliament this week. The law, known as Article 23, covers newly defined acts of treason, espionage, theft of state secrets, sedition and foreign interference. Critics said it was ushering in a “new era of authoritarianism”, would further erode the rights and freedoms of residents, and would scare off international business and investment. US state department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday the…
The Guardian view on Hong Kong’s new national security law: double the pain | Editorial
Residents of Hong Kong could be forgiven for a sense of deja vu. A draconian new national security law (NSL), broad in scope and harsh in penalties, is trampling over basic rights. It first happened four years ago, in response to the extraordinary uprising that saw one in four people take to the streets to defend the region’s autonomy and way of life. Beijing imposed the 2020 law upon the territory, demolishing any vestiges of its claim to run Hong Kong on a “one country, two systems” basis. That legislation,…
Tighter security laws may sap yet more foreign investment from Hong Kong
Hong Kong was once Asia’s world city, a global financial hub and business gateway to China. But the passage of new national security laws is the latest sign the door is closing. On Tuesday, article 23 was unanimously passed by Hong Kong’s unicameral, opposition-free parliament. The law covers newly defined acts of treason, espionage, theft of state secrets, sedition and foreign interference. Numerous foreign governments and rights groups had urged the government not to implement it. Critics said it was ushering in a “new era of authoritarianism”, and would scare…
Where Are Hong Kong’s Leading Pro-Democracy Figures Now?
In 2019, Hong Kong erupted into the most stunning expression of public anger with Beijing in decades. Protesters broke into the legislature and vandalized it. They bought full-page advertisements in international newspapers, criticizing the government. Lawmakers hurled unsavory objects in meetings to protest unpopular bills. In the years since then, China has waged an expansive crackdown on Hong Kong to crush the opposition. Beijing directly imposed a national security law on the city in 2020 that gave the authorities a powerful tool to round up critics, including a prominent pro-democracy…