Footage shows figure believed to be Zheng Xiyuan kicking down poster and pulling pro-democracy protester’s hair
One of China’s most senior diplomats in the UK was involved in the violence against pro-democracy protesters at the Manchester consulate, a British MP has said.
Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP, told the House of Commons that Beijing’s consul general in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, was seen “ripping down posters” before a Hong Kong campaigner was attacked on Sunday.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary urged to take action after Hong Kong demonstrator punched and kicked in Manchester
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, is facing demands to act against the Chinese government as police confirmed that a man was assaulted after being dragged into the grounds of the country’s consulate in Manchester.
Labour and senior Tories have called for the Chinese ambassador to explain what happened after footage appeared to show a pro-democracy demonstrator being beaten and kicked by several men. Police said the assailants had emerged from the consular building.
Continue reading...President puts China’s expansionist foreign policy and control at home at heart of his plans in address to Communist party summit
China’s president, Xi Jinping, walked into the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday to open the Communist party summit and lay out his vision for the next five years. He is expected to be formally returned to power this week, and over 104 minutes his speech gave a foretaste of what is in store for the next half decade.
There were no bombshells. His address paid tribute to the party’s achievements under his rule in the last decade and pledged more of the same. Aggression abroad and control at home remain the heart of those plans.
Continue reading...Williamson Pink Star sets world record highest price per carat for a diamond sold at auction
An extremely rare “fancy vivid pink” diamond has sold for 453m Hong Kong dollars (£52m) – more than double its estimated price – and set a world record for the highest price per carat for a diamond sold at auction.
The 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star diamond, which is named after another pink diamond given to Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift, was sold to an undisclosed buyer at auction by Sotheby’s Hong Kong on Friday.
Continue reading...Williamson Pink Star is second largest ‘fancy vivid pink’ diamond to ever appear at auction
The second largest, internally flawless “fancy vivid pink” diamond ever to appear at auction is expected to sell for more than £20m when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on Friday.
The 11.15-carat, cushion-shaped diamond, known as the Williamson Pink Star, is named after two other huge pink diamonds: the 59.60-carat, mixed-cut, oval Pink Star diamond that sold for a record $71.2m at auction in 2017, and the Williamson stone, a 23.60-carat diamond given to the late Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift by the Canadian geologist and ardent royalist John Thorburn Williamson in 1947.
Continue reading...Former legislator, who fled to Australia last year, said earlier that any sentence would not harm his reputation or lobbying work
A Hong Kong court has sentenced pro-democracy figure in exile Ted Hui to three-and-a-half years in jail over charges related to the 2019 protest movement.
The ruling in Hong Kong’s high court on Thursday, reported by local media, is the first time someone has been sentenced in absentia over the protests.
Continue reading...Catholic cleric and fellow activists were arrested for ‘colluding with foreign forces’ under Beijing-imposed national security law
A 90-year-old Catholic cardinal and five prominent pro-democracy campaigners have pleaded not guilty in court in Hong Kong for failing to properly register a humanitarian fund they set up to help people arrested in anti-government protests in 2019.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, one of Asia’s highest-ranking Catholic clerics, and his fellow campaigners were arrested in May for “colluding with foreign forces” under a national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong to crack down on dissent. All were trustees of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which provided legal and financial assistance to more than 2,000 people prosecuted for their part in the 2019 pro-democracy protests. The fund is charged with not properly registering under the societies ordinance, a colonial-era law from 1911.
The fund disbanded in 2021 after police ordered it to hand over information on its donors and beneficiaries.
Prosecutors on Monday told West Kowloon court that the fund, which drew about 270m Hong Kong dollars (£32m) in donations between June 2019 and October 2021, had “political motivation” and supported anti-government groups and activists, local news portal 01 and public broadcaster RTHK reported.
Prosecutors said the fund paid for audio equipment at anti-government rallies and sponsored students’ political lobbying in London and Geneva. They claimed the students called for sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials, a conduct that was later outlawed under the national security law. They also claimed the fund has sponsored a Taiwanese organisation and Canada-based New Hong Kong Cultural Club which were critical of the Chinese government. The defence argued the fund’s political views were irrelevant to the charge of whether it had registered correctly.
Police have so far not charged Zen with a national security offence, which can carry a sentence of up to life in jail. Instead, he and his fellow defendants, including the singer Denise Ho, the veteran human rights barrister Margaret Ng, former lawmaker Cyd Ho and scholar Hui Po-keung, are being prosecuted for the lesser offence of failing to properly register their defence fund as a society. If convicted, they face a fine of up to 10,000 Hong Kong dollars (£1,192). The trial is expected to conclude in early November.
Zen, a retired bishop of Hong Kong and a vocal critic of the Chinese government, opposed the government’s plan to enact national security laws and took part in pro-democracy protests in 2019, 2014 and 2003. His arrest sent a chill throughout the Christian community, although the Vatican has been muted on his arrest.
Ronson Chan was arrested in September as part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent and free expression in the city
The head of Hong Kong’s journalists’ association will be allowed to travel to the UK for an Oxford fellowship after a court granted him bail and declined to place restrictions on his movement over a charge of obstructing police officers.
Ronson Chan was arrested on 7 September while he was covering a residence meeting at a Hong Kong housing estate. Police allege he refused to provide ID and behaved in an “uncooperative” way despite multiple warnings, and he was charged this week. Chan has claimed innocence, saying he was within his rights to ask police for identification before he produced his.
Continue reading...Ronson Chan was due to travel to the UK when he was arrested for ‘obstructing police’
The head of Hong Kong’s journalist union was charged with obstructing police on Monday, 10 days before he was set to leave the city and begin an overseas fellowship at Oxford University.
Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested on 7 September over a dispute with two officers who asked to see his identification while he was covering a residents’ meeting at a public housing estate.
Continue reading...British consulate in Hong Kong extends opening hours as thousands gather to remember ‘boss lady’
It was the hottest day on record for September, yet under a sweltering sun, thousands of Hongkongers flocked to the British consulate, waiting up to four hours in a long queue that stretched more than 500 metres into a public park to sign the book of condolence for Queen Elizabeth II. The next day, thousands turned up again, prompting the consulate to extend opening hours to 7pm for the whole week.
Many came to eulogise the ‘boss lady’ – an affectionate nickname for the Queen who was Hong Kong’s colonial head of state for 45 years – while also cherishing the opportunity to meet like-minded Hongkongers and share their memories of the city under British rule during the long wait.
Continue reading...Ronson Chan was preparing for stint in UK before being arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer
The head of Hong Kong’s journalist union has been arrested, weeks before he was due to leave for an overseas fellowship at Oxford University.
Ronson Chan, the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer and disorderly conduct in a public place.
Continue reading...Books depicted sheep fleeing from invading wolves, which judge found aimed to incite hatred against China
A court in Hong Kong has convicted five speech therapists of producing “seditious publications” in the form of a series of illustrated children’s books that depicted sheep trying to defend their village from wolves.
The convictions are the latest using a colonial-era sedition offence that authorities have deployed alongside a new national security law to stamp out dissent.
Continue reading...Sir Joseph Hotung’s gift is ‘one of the most generous ever received’ by museum
An outstanding collection of Chinese porcelain and jades has been left to the British Museum in “one of the most significant bequests” of its history.
The artworks come from the collections of Sir Joseph Hotung, a businessman, philanthropist and art collector, who died last year.
Continue reading...Democracy activist and Apple Daily founder will stand trial without jury and could face up to life in prison
The founder of Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, will stand trial without a jury in Hong Kong, after he told a court he would plead not guilty to national security charges.
On Monday, prosecutors told a case management hearing that Lai would challenge the accusations but six fellow executives and manager from the now-defunct Apple Daily or its parent company, Next Digital, intended to plead guilty.
Continue reading...Chinese-Canadian’s firm fined record 55.03bn yuan on charges including illegally taking funds from public
Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese-Canadian billionaire at the centre of an alleged abduction scandal in Hong Kong in 2017, has been sentenced by a Shanghai court to 13 years in prison and his company fined a record 55.03bn yuan (£6.8bn).
Xiao, 50, and his Tomorrow Holdings conglomerate were charged with illegally absorbing public deposits, betraying the use of entrusted property, and the illegal use of funds and bribery, the Shanghai first intermediate court said.
Continue reading...Former student leader among 29 pro-democracy activists entering same plea on subversion charges after more than a year in jail
Joshua Wong and a group of 28 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists charged under a controversial national security law have entered guilty pleas, in the largest joint prosecution in the territory in recent years.
A total of 47 defendants, aged 23 to 64, were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the sweeping national security law. They were detained in 2021 over their involvement in an unofficial primary election in 2020 that authorities said was a plot to paralyse Hong Kong’s government. At the time, the primary showed strong support for candidates willing to challenge the Beijing-backed local government.
Continue reading...Two dancers injured as suspended LED screen crashes down on to stage during show by Cantopop band Mirror
Two dancers have been injured at a Cantopop concert in Hong Kong after a massive video screen suspended above the stage fell on to performers below.
The concert on Thursday, by Cantopop boyband Mirror, was the fourth of a series of 12 scheduled concerts by the band held at the Hong Kong Coliseum.
Continue reading...Leadership contender says he will close 30 Mandarin teaching programmes to restrain Beijing’s soft power
China is the biggest long-term threat to Britain, Rishi Sunak will say on Monday as he unveils plans to curb the country’s soft power by closing all of its 30 Confucius Institutes, which promote the teaching of Chinese language and culture, in the UK.
He will take on Liz Truss, his rival in the Conservative leadership race, by effectively accusing the foreign secretary and western leaders of having “turned a blind eye to China’s nefarious activity and ambitions” and call for a new Nato-alliance to be set up to counter it.
Continue reading...Police said men, including one shot by officer in 2019 protest, had been hiding from law enforcement
Four Hong Kong men, including one shot by the police during the 2019 protests in Tsuen Wan and later charged with rioting, have been arrested as they attempted to leave the city for Taiwan.
The police said the four, aged 16 to 24, were intercepted at a bus terminal near a ferry pier before dawn on Wednesday.
Continue reading...The group are accused of trying to ‘incite hatred’ with books depicting Hong Kong residents as sheep and mainland Chinese as wolves
Hong Kong unionists have pleaded not guilty to publishing “seditious” material as a five-day trial began over illustrated children’s books.
The case revolves around a series of books published by the now-defunct General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists that featured cartoon sheep and wolves, which prosecutors said were analogies for Hong Kong residents and mainland Chinese that were intended to “incite hatred” toward the latter.
On the first day of the trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Laura Ng said the books characterised the two groups as hostile towards each other.
“Hong Kong residents are vulnerable minorities, Chinese rulers are cold-blooded, totalitarian and brutal, and mainland Chinese are thugs,” Ng said.
Ng alleged defendants openly admitted to having based these books on the political turmoil and street protests that began in 2019 over a contentious extradition bill.
One of the books, titled The 12 Warriors of Sheep Village, was linked by the prosecutor to the capture of 12 Hong Kong fugitives by Chinese authorities in 2020.
She alleged that one of the books called for Hong Kong residents to take up arms and use violence against authorities, while another called for foreign interference in the territory’s judicial process.
A third book was said to have blamed mainland Chinese for the Covid pandemic, portraying them as “selfish, uncivilised and unhygienic”, which could incite separatist feelings among Hong Kong residents, Ng alleged.
The unionists were arrested by national security police in July last year and have been in custody since, with bail applications denied.
The defendants, two men and three women in their 20s, were executive committee members of the union.
They jointly face the charge of “conspiracy to print, publish, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications” under the colonial-era crimes ordinance, with a maximum penalty of two years in jail.