Category Archives: Hong Kong

Hongkongers who fled to UK criticise lack of mental health support

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Advocacy groups and BNO passport holders say not enough is being done to help them after arriving in Britain

The UK is not doing enough to provide mental health support to thousands of Hongkongers who have fled China’s increasingly authoritarian grip, according to advocacy groups and those politically displaced.

Following China’s introduction of a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong and swift clampdown on dissent, tens of thousands of residents with British national (overseas) (BNO) passports and their dependants were granted the right to live and work in the UK in 2021.

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Tycoon who disappeared from Hong Kong hotel in 2017 stands trial in China

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Canadian-Chinese businessman Xiao Jianhua will finally stand trial in case linked to President Xi’s corruption drive

China has formally put Canadian-Chinese tycoon Xiao Jianhua on trial, more than five years after his alleged abduction in Hong Kong, which rattled the city and sparked fears about residents being forcibly disappeared.

The Canadian embassy in Beijing confirmed on Monday that Xiao’s trial had begun this week. “Canadian consular officials are monitoring this case closely, providing consular services to his family and continue to press for consular access,” it said in a statement, without providing the location of the trial and charges against him.

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Xi Jinping in Covid scare during Hong Kong handover trip

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Hong Kong legislator tests positive after meeting Chinese president, and city-wide testing begins in Macau to contain its worst outbreak

A Hong Kong legislator who appeared in a group photo with Xi Jinping during his visit to the territory has said he has tested positive for Covid, as Macau kicks off a new round of city-wide coronavirus testing.

In his first trip outside mainland China since the pandemic began, the Chinese president stayed for less than 24 hours in Hong Kong and met only people who had undergone quarantine.

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Dozens feared dead as ship sinks in South China Sea

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At least three people rescued from ship that broke in two during typhoon but more than two dozen still missing

More than two dozen crew members are unaccounted for after their ship broke in two during a typhoon in the South China Sea on Saturday, with rescuers scrambling to find them, officials have said.

Authorities dispatched planes and helicopters to help with the rescue. At least three people from the crew of 30 had been brought to safety as of 5.30pm local time (1030 GMT).

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Xi’s vision for patriotic and prosperous Hong Kong a hard sell for foreign firms

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Analysis: Chinese president emphasises new era of stability but businesses balk at political risks

President Xi Jinping, in his first trip outside mainland China since the Covid pandemic began, declared a new era for Hong Kong, which, in his words had “risen from the ashes”. New priorities have been set for a city that until two years ago was engulfed in street protests: political loyalty, social stability and economic development.

Xi praised the “one country, two systems” policy, and said there was no reason to change it, and it must be “upheld for the long term”. But, perhaps unsurprisingly, his speech, as well as one by new chief executive, John Lee, overwhelmingly emphasised Hong Kong’s convergence with Beijing rather than its divergence.

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Xi Jinping hails China’s rule over Hong Kong on 25th anniversary of handover

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Chinese president says ‘one country, two systems’ will endure and democracy flourishes after unprecedented unpicking of freedoms

Xi Jinping has hailed China’s rule over Hong Kong as he led 25th anniversary celebrations of the city’s handover from Britain, insisting democracy was flourishing despite a political crackdown that has silenced dissent.

After swearing in a new hardline chief executive, John Lee, in a solemn ceremony on Friday morning, the Chinese president laid out his vision for the city and its administrators.

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Hong Kong tightens security as Xi visits for 25th anniversary of handover

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China’s president makes first trip outside mainland since pandemic began as territory prepares to mark milestone

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has made his first trip outside the mainland since the Covid pandemic began, landing in Hong Kong and telling crowds the region had “risen from the ashes” after years of upheaval.

The leader, his wife, Peng Liyuan, and delegates, arrived by high-speed train at West Kowloon station before his scheduled attendance at the inauguration of the city’s new chief executive, and the 25th anniversary of the British return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule.

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Hong Kong handover: timeline

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On 30 June 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China, ending over a century of British rule

1842: Hong Kong was ceded “in perpetuity” - for good - to Britain after China lost the first opium war. This is how the Manchester Guardian told its readers the news.

1860: Peace was short lived though. A second opium war, and another defeat for China, saw the British take the Kowloon peninsula.

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Xi Jinping to visit Hong Kong on 25th anniversary of British handover

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Trip will be president’s first known visit outside mainland China since January 2020 after Covid outbreak

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will visit Hong Kong for the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover to mainland China, the state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.

The trip will be Xi’s first known visit outside mainland China since January 2020 after the Covid-19 outbreak. He will also attend the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of Hong Kong, Xinhua said.

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Mystery deepens as owners say Hong Kong floating restaurant has not sunk

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Loss-making business still afloat but rescue work extremely difficult due to depth of water, say owners

Hong Kong’s distinctive Jumbo Floating Restaurant, established in 1976 by the smuggler turned gambling impresario Stanley Ho Hung-sun, led a storied life. The 80 metre-long restaurant, designed like a Chinese imperial palace, featured as a backdrop to films by Jackie Chan and Steven Soderbergh and hosted guests including Queen Elizabeth II and Tom Cruise before closing in 2020 as the city reeled from the Covid pandemic.

It seems that in death it has not lost the power to grab headlines. Hongkongers bade the restaurant farewell last week as it was towed out of Aberdeen harbour. Its owner, Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises (ARE), did not disclose its destination, but Hong Kong’s marine department later said it was due to be taken to a shipyard in Cambodia.

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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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