Jimmy Lai Speaking in Court
At his ongoing national security trial, Jimmy Lai (黎智英) said last week he feared U.S. President Joe Biden would not continue the Trump administration’s hard stance on China after the 2020 U.S. presidential election. He also denied advocating for Taiwan independence.
Faced with a life sentence on two different charges under the same national security law, the 76-year-old has denied trying to influence foreign policy in Hong Kong and defended the idea of “delivering freedom” through pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily.
Lai’s son Sebastien (黎崇恩) has said the trial is “a complete show trial.” His lawyers have said he has been mistreated in custody.
Hong Kong Becoming ‘Indistinguishable’ From Chinese Cities
At the end of December, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China’s annual report said that Hong Kong’s governance is becoming “Indistinguishable” from other Chinese cities.
“Indeed, Hong Kong officials may now be more zealous than their mainland counterparts in enforcing national security laws,” the report added. “Coupled with convictions in the “Hong Kong 47” case, the trial of Jimmy Lai … underscores how civil rights are no longer protected, despite the traditional pomp displayed by wig-bedecked Hong Kong judges.”
Activists Wanted
On Christmas Eve, the Hong Kong government offered a 1 million Hong Kong dollar ($128,000) reward for 19-year-old Chloe Cheung (張晞晴), a Hong Kong activist working for the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation in the U.K.
Cheung was one of six activists to be newly listed as wanted, which brings the total of exiled Hong Kongers with arrest warrants and bounties against them to 19. She is accused of “incitement to secession” and “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.”
In response, Cheung wrote on X: “Apparently I am guilty of two crimes. Instead, I would rather say that it is the #HongKong gov’t and the #CCP that are guilty of crimes. Crimes against their own people. I was forced to flee my own city for practicing my democratic rights under the #HongKong Basic Law.”
British Chancellor Urged to Pressure Hong Kong on Rights
The ARTICLE 19 group was among several rights groups to call on British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to “take concrete action to deter the PRC and Hong Kong governments’ escalating human rights violations and transnational repression” ahead of her visit to China this week.
Within those calls, ARTICLE 19 also accused the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in London and elsewhere of operating “as an undisclosed [Chinese] embassy,” while they are set up to promote business and bilateral relations between the U.K. and Hong Kong.
For her part, Reeves has struck a far more conciliatory tone, saying London is a “natural home” for Chinese finance.
Boarding Schools for Tibetan Children
China’s government is using boarding schools to “assimilate a generation of Tibetans into the national mainstream and mold them into citizens loyal to the Communist Party,” according to a new report from The New York Times.
“Tibetan rights activists, as well as experts working for the United Nations, have said that the party is systematically separating Tibetan children from their families to erase Tibetan identity and to deepen China’s control of a people who historically resisted Beijing’s rule,” the Times report alleged.
Lawyer Calls on Hong Kong Judges to Stop ‘Complicity’ in ‘Police State’
Former lawyer Chow Hang-tung (鄒幸彤), who took part in organizing a vigil marking the Tiananmen Square crackdown, used a court appearance last week to tell judges to stop “complicity” in a “police state.”
“A police state is created with the complicity of the court in endorsing [the government’s] abuses. Such complicity must stop now,” Chow said.
Chow’s court appearance came as part of a three-year legal battle over her refusal to turn over information on other members of the group that organized the vigil. She has been in prison since 2021 and could be given a life sentence in a separate trial for “subversion” later this year.
Book Fair Attendees Searched
Attendees at an independent book fair in Hong Kong were stopped and searched by police at the end of December. The fair featured 20 local independent publishers and, according to the Hong Kong Free Press, uniformed police stopped a car leaving the former Mount Zero bookstore with its former owner and pro-democracy figure and barrister Margaret Ng (吳靄儀) inside. They were allowed to leave after around five minutes. Mount Zero closed last year, citing a large number of inspections by authorities which followed anonymous complaints.
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