The Civic party, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy groups, has voted to disband because of a leadership vacuum, after its members were squeezed out of local councils and charged under Beijing’s national security law. Nicknamed “the barristers’ party”, it was founded in 2006 by professional elites – mostly from the legal sector – who wanted to promote democratisation and civil society in Hong Kong. The party was among the last few opposition groups, as political dissent has been outlawed under 2020’s national security law, and civil society in…
Tag: Hong Kong
Hongkongers opt out of organ registry ‘amid fear of Chinese donations’
Thousands of Hongkongers have opted out of the city’s organ donor registry, seemingly as a form of subtle protest against proposals to establish deeper medical ties with mainland China. Between December and April, there were more than 5,700 applications to withdraw from the centralised organ donor registry, the government revealed on Monday. That is “significantly higher” than the normal rate of withdrawals. The trigger appears to have been a life-saving operation carried out in December on a four-month-old baby girl in Hong Kong, who was in need of a heart…
Once admired, now reviled, Hong Kong police force failing to attract new recruits
Kevin Wan*, in his 40s, resigned from the Hong Kong police force after a career of over two decades. “I no longer felt proud being part of the force. They lost their sense of mission to serve the community and uphold justice,” he said. “I didn’t want to turn into someone I despise.” The reputation of the Hong Kong police service, once called the finest in Asia, took a nosedive after its crackdown on mass anti-government protests in 2019 was widely criticised. Wan said he felt uneasy being part of…
Tiananmen Square books removed from Hong Kong libraries in run-up to anniversary
Books about the Tiananmen Square massacre, Hong Kong protest movements, and other subjects deemed politically sensitive by Beijing have been removed from the former British colony’s public libraries in the lead-up to the 34th anniversary of the killings. Hong Kong media have reported a marked increase in the number of book and documentary removals, which have been growing since the authoritarian clampdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and the introduction of the national security law in 2020. It has resulted in a major curtailing of political freedoms in the city,…
China jails US citizen for life on espionage charges
A Chinese court has sentenced a 78-year-old US citizen to life in prison on espionage charges. John Shing Wan Leung, a Hong Kong permanent resident, was detained in April 2021 by Chinese security services. His sentence was announced on Monday by the Suzhou intermediate people’s court on its public WeChat account. No further information about his trial or charges were listed. Leung’s sentence also included deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of personal property in the amount of 500,000 yuan. There are no previous reports or notices of…
‘My time in the UK has been a disaster’: Hongkongers fear deportation after years left in limbo
In March 2021, less than one month after his 18th birthday, Lawson* made a decision that would change the course of his life for ever. The previous year had been tumultuous in Hong Kong. Lawson, like millions of other Hongkongers, had taken to the streets to participate in pro-democracy protests against the influence of the Chinese Communist party, which was seeking to tighten its grip on the territory. He had been forced by police to kneel on the ground as he choked on teargas at the siege of Hong Kong…
Hong Kong passes law to limit work of foreign lawyers amid ongoing Jimmy Lai case
Hong Kong’s government has passed a law that allows authorities to ban foreign lawyers from working on national security cases, completing a months-long effort to block a UK lawyer from defending media mogul and activist Jimmy Lai. The amendment, which was passed unanimously by the Legislative Council on Thursday, gives the chief executive the power to veto any foreign lawyer from working on cases brought under the 2020 National Security Law (NSL). Lai, the founder of now defunct Apple Daily newspaper and a high profile pro-democracy figure, was first arrested…
Son of jailed Hong Kong media tycoon condemns UK government ‘weakness’
The British son of the jailed Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has criticised Britain and the Vatican for failing to speak out strongly against the crackdown on dissent in the Chinese territory. At a Washington event about the human rights situation in Hong Kong, Sebastien Lai said self-censorship in the former British colony was the anticipated result of the national security crackdown there, but the “hypocrisy” of some governments trying to trade with China was unexpected. “We are incredibly grateful that the Americans have been a lot stronger on…
UK MPs urge minister to do more to free Hongkongers’ trapped savings
The first British ministerial visit to Hong Kong since the introduction of draconian Chinese security laws five years ago was a chance to demand that China unlock more than £2bn in pensions belonging to British overseas passport holders who fled for the UK, former cabinet ministers have told the Foreign Office. A letter signed by more than 90 MPs, including 10 former ministers, urges the trade minister Dominic Johnson to do more to release frozen savings belonging to thousands of Hongkongers. Lord Johnson’s three-day visit to Hong Kong heavily focused…
Hong Kong Wants More Tourists, but Mostly ‘Good Quality’ Ones, Please
One by one the tour buses descended on the blue collar neighborhood in Hong Kong known as To Kwa Wan — literally translated as Potato Bay — unloading throngs of travelers from mainland China outside large restaurants where a quick lunch awaited them inside. Outfitted in white, red and orange ball caps to denote which tour they belonged to, the visitors crowded the sidewalks, smoked cigarettes under a “No Smoking” sign and bumped into the glass storefront of a real estate office where Nicky Lam, a property agent, was rolling…