Category Archives: Hong Kong

Hong Kong plunges lower in global human rights index

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Region now on par with Saudi Arabia in some indicators – and coming closer to converging with China

Hong Kong has plunged further in a human rights ranking report, bringing it on a par with Saudi Arabia in some indicators, and closer to converging with China as the Communist party government deepens its control on the region.

The rankings report by the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) also highlighted a deepening divide in China between high scores in quality of life indicators and some of the world’s lowest for civil and political rights. But the organisation found rights to basic essentials were often stripped from people for political reasons.

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Floating Hong Kong restaurant capsizes in South China Sea

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Jumbo Floating Restaurant encountered ‘adverse weather’ after being towed away from territory’s harbour

One of Hong Kong’s most distinctive restaurants – the Jumbo Floating Restaurant – has capsized in the South China Sea, days after it was towed away from its home of 46 years in the territory’s Aberdeen harbour.

Its owners said in a statement on Monday that the restaurant had encountered adverse weather conditions when passing the Paracel Islands – also known as the Xisha Islands – on its way to an undisclosed location.

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New Hong Kong textbooks ‘will claim city never was a British colony’

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School books will reportedly say China never recognised the treaties that ceded it to colonial powers during opium wars

New Hong Kong textbooks will teach students that the city was never a British colony, after an overhaul of a school subject that authorities have blamed for driving the pro-democracy protests.

According to local reports, the new texts will teach students that the Chinese government didn’t recognise the treaties that ceded the city to Britain after the opium wars. They ended in 1997 when Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese control, and therefore the texts claim Hong Kong was never a British colony.

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Hong Kong NETs – foreign teachers of English – forced to take allegiance oath

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Authoritarian measures are widened to meet Chinese loyalty requirements, despite fears it will worsen teacher shortages

Foreign English-language teachers working in Hong Kong government schools will need to swear allegiance to the city, officials have ordered, as fears grow about the territory’s ability to retain educators in the face of increasing restrictions.

Hong Kong’s education bureau said on Saturday that native-speaking English teachers (NETs) and advisers working in government-run schools must sign a declaration by 21 June in order to continue working.

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Candles, flags and a howl of pain: Taiwan remembers Tiananmen

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Taipei takes on the role of commemoration from Hong Kong as the only Chinese-speaking country to hold vigils

On a steamy summer’s night several hundred people gathered at the foot of Taipei’s grand Chiang Kai-shek memorial for one of dozens of vigils being held around the world to mark the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

A man walked on to the stage, with the eyes of the crowd upon him, and voiced a timid welcome: “Hello everyone.” Then he began to scream.

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Hong Kong police warn Tiananmen anniversary gatherings will break the law

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Hong Kong has commemorated 1989 crackdown for decades, but national security law imposed in 2020 has put a stop to annual vigils

Hong Kong police have warned that people risk breaking the law if they gather on Saturday to commemorate China’s Tiananmen crackdown - particularly in the city’s Victoria Park, the site of a once annual candlelit vigil.

Discussion of the 4 June 1989 crackdown, when the Chinese government set troops and tanks on peaceful protesters, is forbidden in mainland China. For decades Hong Kong exercised its semi-autonomy and freedom of speech to hold an annual candlelit memorial for the victims. But after the national security law was brought in in 2020, that came to an end.

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Hong Kong churches drop Tiananmen tributes after 33 years amid arrest fears

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Concerns of breaching security law prompt cancellation of services that were among last ways to publicly mark China’s 1989 crackdown

For the first time in 33 years, church services to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown will not be held in Hong Kong, erasing one of the last reminders of China’s bloody suppression of the 1989 protests.

Since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020 to snuff out pro-democracy demonstrations, once-packed candlelit vigils have been banned, a Tiananmen museum has been forced to close and statues have been pulled down.

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Hong Kong judicial independence under systematic attack, legal figures warn

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Signatories of legal opinion say territory’s government is using continued presence of overseas judges as ‘vote of confidence’

International judicial figures including the former UK attorney general Sir Robert Buckland have warned the remaining British, Australian and Canadian judges operating in Hong Kong that they are working in an environment where judicial independence has been wholly undermined and the Chinese Communist party can dictate the outcome of cases.

The group has backed a legal opinion that says the systematic threats to Hong Kong’s judicial independence will continue to intensify, and that the continued presence of overseas judges is being used by the territory’s government as a vote of confidence.

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Hong Kong: Vatican ‘concerned’ over arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen

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Prominent Catholic cleric, 90, detained with three others linked to disbanded charity for protesters

The Vatican has voiced concern after Hong Kong’s national security police arrested 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, one of Asia’s most senior and outspoken Catholic clerics.

Zen, a former bishop of Hong Kong, was arrested along with the singer and actor Denise Ho, the lawyer Margaret Ng, and the scholar Hui Po-keung.

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EU voices concerns as former Hong Kong security chief made new leader

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Fears grow that elevation of John Lee signals Beijing’s tough policy on Hong Kong is set to continue

The European Union has condemned the appointment of Hong Kong’s former security tsar, who oversaw the crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, as the Chinese territory’s new chief executive with 99% of the vote in a secret ballot on Sunday.

Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, said the selection process that led to John Lee being elected is yet “another step in the dismantling of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle”.

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Security chief who led pro-democracy crackdown set to be Hong Kong’s new leader

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John Lee is the only candidate in the running to succeed Carrie Lam as chief executive

At the height of Hong Kong’s protests in the summer of 2019, angry pro-democracy legislators shouted in the Chinese territory’s legislative council: “down with John Lee!”, as the veteran security chief defended his force’s treatment of the protesters and journalists.

“I hope people will understand the chaotic situation and the pressure faced by each and every one at the scene on that day,” Lee said, unapologetically. “I hope members of the public will not vent their dissatisfaction of the government on police officers, because they are only discharging their duties.”

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From India’s highs to Thailand’s lows, Asia’s weather is hitting extremes

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Analysis: As the heatwave in India and Pakistan starts to intensify again, Thailand and China are recording strangely cold May days

The final days of April saw further unbearable temperatures recorded in India and Pakistan. Temperatures peaked at 49C in Jacobabad, Pakistan on 30 April, with a high of 47.2C observed in Banda, India. The Indian Meteorological Department confirmed that average temperatures in April were the highest for northern and central parts of the country since records began over 100 years ago.

Heatwaves are a common occurrence at this time of year in India and Pakistan, but scientists believe the intensity, duration and arrival time of the conditions witnessed so far this year are caused by rising global temperatures. Despite a slight respite in the extreme heat over the past few days, temperatures are set to intensify once more this weekend and into next week with maximum temperatures expected to approach 50C in parts of north-west India and Pakistan.

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Hong Kong’s Human Rights Press Awards scrapped over security law fears

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Foreign Correspondent’s Club’s decision sparks outrage from journalists and resignations from press freedom committee

Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club has scrapped its annual human rights press awards just days before it was due to announce winners, out of fear it would violate the city’s wide-ranging national security law.

The decision sparked a number of resignations from the club’s press freedom committee, and public criticism from journalists and former award winners, who described the move as sad, and evidence that it could no longer serve in its mission to defend the press.

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Prominent Hong Kong journalist Allan Au reportedly held on sedition charge

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Reporter and lecturer’s arrest in dawn raid another blow to city’s press amid Beijing crackdown

A veteran Hong Kong journalist has been arrested by national security police for allegedly conspiring to publish “seditious materials”, a police source and local media said, in the latest blow against press freedom.

Allan Au, a 54-year-old reporter and journalism lecturer, was arrested in a dawn raid on Monday by Hong Kong’s national security police unit, multiple local media outlets reported.

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Hong Kong security official to stand as chief executive

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John Lee’s bid for top political post is sign of power security officials are gaining

Hong Kong chief secretary John Lee, a security official during the global financial hub’s prolonged and often violent 2019 pro-democracy protests, has resigned in a bid to run in an election in May to become the city’s new leader.

Lee, 64, a former deputy commissioner of police, was promoted to the role in 2021 in a move that some political analysts said showed Beijing’s priorities for Hong Kong were security rather than the economy.

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Carrie Lam: a divisive leader in Hong Kong’s turbulent times

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Tenure of woman who rose through ranks to become governor marked by controversies and scandals

Carrie Lam came to office pledging to unite Hong Kong, but she will leave accused of being a divisive leader of a politically turbulent city.

Lam entered Hong Kong’s civil service in 1980, with her colleagues labelling her a “houdadak”, or “good fighter”, because of her strong will in a bureaucratic battle. She eventually rose through the ranks to become the first female governor of the key financial hub in 2017. She announced on Monday that she will not seek a second five-year term of office.

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says she will not seek second term

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Chief executive to leave office at end of June after five years marked by upheavals of anti-government protests

Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, who has governed the Chinese region since 2017, has announced she will not seek a second five-year term of office.

Lam’s tenure as the chief executive of one of Asia’s most significant financial hubs has been marked by the upheavals of anti-government protests and, more recently, Covid-19. Critics have accused her of helping Beijing to curtail Hong Kong’s freedoms.

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UK judges withdraw from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal

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Judges resign saying administration has ‘departed from values of political freedom and freedom of expression’

UK judges have withdrawn from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal, citing concerns that their continued participation would appear to endorse the current administration amid dwindling political liberties and freedom of expression in the Chinese territory.

Lord Reed, the president of the UK supreme court, the country’s highest court, said he and his colleague Lord Hodge had submitted their resignations as judges of the Hong Kong court of final appeal (HKCFA) with immediate effect.

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Cathay Pacific plans world’s longest passenger flight, avoiding Russia

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Airline could set distance record by rerouting its New York to Hong Kong service over the Atlantic instead of the Pacific, covering more than 16,600km

Cathay Pacific is planning the world’s longest passenger flight by rerouting its New York to Hong Kong service over the Atlantic instead of the Pacific, the airline has said, in a new path that steers clear of Russia.

The flight path will cover “just under 9,000 nautical miles” (16,668km, or 10,357 miles) in 16 to 17 hours, Cathay said in a statement to Agence France-Presse.

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Hong Kong hospitals will no longer separate Covid-infected children from parents

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U-turn comes after health policy caused outrage among families and campaigners in city

Hong Kong hospital authorities have made a U-turn to allow parents of Covid-positive children to accompany them in paediatric wards, regardless of their own Covid status, as the city’s “fifth wave” of the virus eases.

Many toddlers were hospitalised during the Omicron-fuelled outbreak, which peaked this month, government data showed. But until recent days, only parents who also tested positive were allowed to remain in the same ward as their children.

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