Category Archives: Hong Kong

Hong Kong reportedly lets Nicole Kidman skip Covid quarantine

Posted on by

Actor said to be given exemption to film Amazon TV series, as territory braces for tougher travel rules

As Hong Kong braces for more draconian Covid-19 travel restrictions from Friday, the Australian actor Nicole Kidman has received an exemption from the government to skip quarantine, media reported.

The exemption was given to allow her to film an Amazon television series called The Expats, the news website HK01 reported, a move that contrasts sharply with the mandatory hotel quarantine of up to three weeks that residents must undergo after entering the Chinese-ruled territory.

Continue reading...

Four Hong Kong students arrested for ‘advocating terrorism’

Posted on by

Student union had expressed ‘deep sadness’ over death of a man who attacked a police officer

Four student leaders from Hong Kong’s top university have been arrested for “advocating terrorism”, police said.

Arrests were made in response to a controversial student union statement after a man attacked a police officer last month.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong group behind major pro-democracy protests disbands amid police pressure

Posted on by

End of Civil Human Rights Front comes days after police suggested its past rallies may have violated national security law

A major civil society group that was behind some of Hong Kong’s biggest protests has disbanded under increasing pressure from police.

The Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) announced its closure on Sunday, saying no members were willing to perform secretariat duties after its convenor, Figo Chan Ho-wun, was jailed for 18 months over a 2019 rally.

Continue reading...

Biden grants ‘safe haven’ to Hongkongers in US amid China crackdown

Posted on by

President signs memo allowing people from Hong Kong currently residing in US to live and work in country for 18 months

Joe Biden has granted temporary refuge to people from Hong Kong amid the Chinese government’s effort to crush the pro-democracy movement and tighten its control on a city once known for its freedom.

Related: Hong Kong singer and activist arrested over ‘corrupt conduct’

Continue reading...

Covid restrictions and screens linked to myopia in children, study shows

Posted on by

Hong Kong research suggests less time outdoors and more doing ‘near work’ accelerates short-sightedness

Spending more time indoors and on screens because of Covid restrictions may be linked to an increased rate of short-sightedness in children, researchers say.

The study, which looked at two groups of children aged six to eight in Hong Kong, is the latest to suggest that lockdowns and other restrictions may have taken a toll on eyesight: data from more than 120,000 children of a similar age in China, published earlier this year, suggested a threefold increase in the prevalence of shortsightedness, or myopia, in 2020.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong man arrested for allegedly booing Chinese anthem while watching Olympics

Posted on by

Man allegedly also waved colonial-era flags while watching fencer Edgar Cheung’s medal ceremony at a mall

Hong Kong police have arrested a man on suspicion of insulting the national anthem, after he allegedly booed the Chinese national anthem while watching an Olympic event at a mall.

The 40-year-old man was detained on Friday after allegedly waving colonial-era Hong Kong flags and booing, while urging others to join him in insulting the song, according to a police statement posted on Facebook.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong security law: verdict expected in first ever trial

Posted on by

Tong Ying-kit case seen as a departure from Hong Kong’s common law traditions, with accused denied bail and a jury trial

Three Hong Kong judges are expected to deliver a verdict on Tuesday in the first trial of a person charged under the national security law, a landmark case with implications on how the legislation reshapes the city’s common law traditions.

Former waiter Tong Ying-kit, 24, has pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism and inciting secession, as well as an alternative charge of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm. The acts he is accused of allegedly occurred on 1 July 2020 shortly after the law was enacted.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong: five arrested for sedition over children’s book about sheep – video

Posted on by

Five members of a Hong Kong union behind a series of children’s books about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village have been arrested for sedition. The arrests were made by the new national security police unit, which is undertaking a sweeping crackdown on dissent. The two men and three women detained had 'conspired to publish, distribute, exhibit or copy seditious publications', the unit said

Continue reading...

Five arrested in Hong Kong for sedition over children’s book about sheep

Posted on by

Books tried to explain the pro-democracy movement, portraying supporters as sheep surrounded by wolves

Five members of a Hong Kong union behind a series of children’s books about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village have been arrested for sedition.

The arrests by the new national security police unit, which is spearheading a sweeping crackdown on dissent, are the latest action against pro-democracy activists since huge and often violent protests convulsed the city two years ago.

Continue reading...

Reasons to be fearful of China’s data-gathering | Letters

Posted on by

We should be suspicious of the role of the Chinese Communist party in the harvesting of genetic data from unborn babies, argues William Matthews

In her column (What does the Chinese military want with your unborn baby’s genetic data?, 10 July), Arwa Mahdawi suggested that the alleged involvement of the People’s Liberation Army (which is directly answerable to the Chinese Communist party) with BGI’s data-gathering (likewise answerable as a China-based company) is essentially equivalent to data-gathering by western companies. To suggest that the former case is worse, she argued, “smacks of Sinophobia”.

As a scholar of China, I cannot agree. While the harvesting of genetic data by any company is frightening and fraught with ethical issues, it should be obvious that this is a false equivalence. It is undoubtedly worse if genetic data is gathered by a company which must also comply with the rule of the Chinese Communist party (CCP) and its military-industrial complex, a regime which harvests and aggregates data on its citizens on a massive scale and uses it directly to implement the most repressive system of social control on earth in Xinjiang.

Continue reading...

Self-censorship hits Hong Kong book fair in wake of national security law

Posted on by

Far fewer politically sensitive titles are on display in the first such event since Beijing imposed sweeping new regulations

Booksellers at Hong Kong’s annual book fair are offering a reduced selection of books deemed politically sensitive, as they try to avoid violating a sweeping national security law imposed on the city last year.

The fair was postponed twice last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. It usually draws hundreds of thousands of people looking for everything from the latest bestsellers to works by political figures.

Continue reading...

A love from beyond the grave – Kurt Tong on his ‘ghost marriage’ photographs

Posted on by

His latest project, piecing together the story of a bereaved Hong Kong man who wed his dead fiancé, has won an award. The photogapher reveals how it began with the discovery of a trunk of keepsakes

At the centre of Kurt Tong’s elaborate visual narrative Dear Franklin, there is a doomed love story that is also a ghost story. It traces the intertwined lives of Franklin Lung, a man who rose from poor beginnings to become part of Hong Kong’s social elite in the 1940s, and a young woman known only as Dongyu, the daughter of a high-ranking Chinese general.

They met, fell in love, but shortly after their engagement, Dongyu was one of several thousand refugees fleeing the Chinese communist army on board the SS Kiangya when it struck an old Japanese sea mine. “Their love story should have ended with this terrible tragedy,” says Tong, “but it continued after her death because Franklin agreed to a ‘ghost marriage’, an elaborate traditional ceremony in which he became eternally wedded to Dongyu in the spirit world.”

Continue reading...

‘Growing risks’: Hong Kong pro-democracy group scales down

Posted on by

Organisation known for annual Tiananmen vigil lets go of all paid staff and halves its steering committee

One of Hong Kong’s most established pro-democracy civic organisations has said it is letting go its paid staff and halving the size of its steering committee after Beijing stepped up its crackdown on opposition activity.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China is best known for its annual rally and candlelight vigil remembering those killed in the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong trial of 47 pro-democracy activists delayed for 11 weeks

Posted on by

Prosecutors granted more time to prepare cases against those arrested under sweeping national security law

Prosecutors have been granted another months-long delay to the trial of 47 pro-democracy politicians, activists, and campaigners in Hong Kong who held pre-election primaries declared illegal under its sweeping national security law.

A court on Thursday was originally expected to hear an application to transfer the case to a higher court with powers to order longer jail sentences, but prosecutors instead requested an 11-week adjournment, saying they needed more time to prepare, local media reported.

Continue reading...

US official warns China against ‘catastrophic’ move on Taiwan

Posted on by

Kurt Campbell says Beijing assessing world’s response to Hong Kong crackdown to understand potential reaction on Taiwan

A senior US official has warned China not to seek emboldenment from its Hong Kong crackdown to move against Taiwan, as Japan’s deputy leader said it would defend Taiwan against an attack.

Kurt Campbell, coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the US national security council, told a forum on Tuesday the US had tried to send a “clear message of deterrence across the Taiwan Strait” and any attempt by China to move on Taiwan would be “catastrophic”.

Continue reading...

Threats, insults and China’s influence on Australian universities

Posted on by

A landmark report by Human Rights Watch has detailed accounts of pro-democracy students and academics in Australia who are being harassed and threatened over their comments relating to China. In some cases, people have been doxxed, and others claim their actions have been reported to Chinese authorities. Reporter Daniel Hurst explains why academics and students are experiencing this harassment, and what Australia can do about it

You can also read:

Continue reading...

Malawi Pride and press freedoms in Palestine: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

Posted on by

A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Chile to Cambodia

Continue reading...

Hong Kong police say mourning officer’s attacker is like backing terrorism

Posted on by

Authorities called assailant a ‘lone wolf’ domestic terrorist who had been politically radicalised

Police in Hong Kong have told citizens that mourning the death of a man who stabbed a police officer last week is “no different to supporting terrorism”, as the case was taken over by the national security department.

The comments followed the stabbing of an officer in the back on Thursday night by a 50-year-old man at Causeway Bay. Police said the man then took his own life. The 28-year-old officer sustained a punctured lung in the attack and remains in hospital in a critical condition, according to local media.

Continue reading...