Category Archives: Hong Kong

Wuhan Covid citizen journalist jailed for four years in China’s Christmas crackdown

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Prosecution of 10 Hong Kongers detained in mainland China after allegedly attempting to flee to Taiwan also began on Monday

Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old former lawyer and citizen journalist who was arrested in May while reporting from Wuhan, has been sentenced to four years in jail.

Zhang was arrested for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – an accusation commonly used against dissidents, activists and journalists – with her video and blog reports from the Wuhan lockdown. Last month she was charged with disseminating false information.

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Liu Xiaoming to quit his role of Chinese ambassador to Britain

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Critic of UK decision to ban Huawei from 5G networks to be replaced by China’s vice-foreign minister

China’s long-serving envoy to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, a staunch defender of closer UK-China economic ties and the imposition of new security laws in Hong Kong, is standing down, marking the end of an era in relations between the two countries that hit a high in 2015 but has since worsened markedly.

He is being replaced by his country’s vice-foreign minister, Zheng Zeguang, a former Cardiff University law student once tipped to become China’s ambassador to the US, and still seen as a candidate for that post in a couple of years’ time.

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Coronavirus global report: Christmas curtailed as UK arrivals face tougher measures

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Pope addresses fewer than 200 people in St Peter’s; China and US take action against UK amid concerns about new variant; South Korea reports daily case record

The coronavirus pandemic cast a pall over Christmas celebrations worldwide, with the pope holding a reduced St Peter’s mass, and further restrictions imposed on arrivals from the UK and South Africa amid concerns about potentially more transmissible variants of the virus.

China said it would halt UK flight arrivals indefinitely, deciding to follow the example of dozens of countries that introduced bans this week following the emergence of a new mutation in the virus. There are currently eight weekly flights between mainland China and Britain, including two by British Airways.

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Hong Kong activist Nathan Law applies for asylum in Britain

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Exclusive: Law said he chose UK in hope of ‘sounding an alarm’ over threats to democracy in Europe from China

Opinion: I left for London so I could tell Britain truth about China

The Hong Kong activist Nathan Law has applied for asylum in the UK, six months after fleeing his home on the eve of the national security law coming into force.

Law revealed in an opinion article for the Guardian on Monday that he had submitted a refugee claim to the UK government. He said he had chosen Britain in the hope he could “sound an alarm” over threats to democracy in Europe from the Chinese Communist party.

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Hong Kong court reinstates mask ban at public gatherings

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Judges’ decision appeared to rely on government accounts of violence at protest rallies in 2019

Hong Kong’s court of final appeal has reinstated a full ban on wearing masks at public gatherings, ruling in favour the government’s use of colonial-era laws.

The decision overturns the ruling by an appeal court in April, which found the ban, made unilaterally by the city’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, at the peak of 2019’s protests, was partly unconstitutional in that it could not be declared for lawful public gatherings. It also upheld the constitutionality of using the colonial-era ordinances for the first time in half a century.

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Day off denied: how Covid confined Hong Kong’s domestic ‘helpers’

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Many migrant women have been cooped up in employers’ homes for months, unable to take time off or travel to families

On Sundays Hong Kong’s migrant domestic workers traditionally gather in their thousands in the city’s public spaces to enjoy their day off.

Congregating in shopping malls and parks or at bus stations, they take mats to sit on and crowd around rice cookers, sharing meals. “Mini villages pop up everywhere,” says Karen Grépin, associate professor at the University of Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai denied bail

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The 72-year-old media tycoon was charged under China’s draconian new security law on Friday

The Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been denied bail, after being charged with colluding with foreign entities under the city’s new national security law.

Lai, who marked his 72nd birthday in jail this week, appeared in court on Saturday handcuffed to a chain around his waist, and led by a police officer.

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Switzerland denies deal with China was threat to dissidents

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Government says deal allowing Beijing officials to interrogate Chinese nationals was standard ‘technical arrangement’

The Swiss government has strongly rejected accusations that a deal allowing Chinese officials to enter Switzerland and interrogate Chinese nationals put dissidents at risk.

Switzerland entered into a so-called re-admission agreement with China back in 2015. The deal expired on Monday.

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UK government ‘has underestimated takeup for Hong Kong resettlement scheme’

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Survey finds more than 600,000 may want to move to Britain, many within two years of January start date

Hong Kong residents are likely to move to the UK faster than the British government has anticipated, and more should be done to prepare for their arrival, a new advocacy group has said.

HongKongers in Britain (HKB) surveyed city residents hoping to emigrate under a new British government scheme that opens in January, allowing those with colonial-era British National Overseas (BNO) status to obtain visas and pursue a “path to citizenship”.

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Hong Kong church pastor says HSBC froze personal and charity bank accounts

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Church describes act as ‘political retaliation’ by authorities over support of pro-democracy protestors and comes as eight more arrested

The pastor of a Hong Kong church says HSBC has frozen bank accounts belonging to him, his wife and the church’s charity in what he said was “political retaliation” by authorities for their assistance to young protesters.

It comes as police arrest more opposition figures, and a day after the accounts of former legislator Ted Hui and his family were refrozen under police orders, after they left Hong Kong to live in exile in the UK.

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Exiled Hong Kong legislator calls for inquiry after HSBC freezes bank account

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Ted Hui calls alleged move by Britain’s biggest bank an act of ‘oppression’ as eight more democracy activists are arrested

A Hong Kong legislator who fled to Europe has called on regulators to investigate the actions of major banks including HSBC, after his accounts and those of his wife and parents were allegedly frozen.

Ted Hui is the latest pro-democracy figure to leave Hong Kong and the escalating crackdown on dissent which last week saw Jimmy Lai denied bail, and Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam jailed. On Monday eight people were reportedly arrested by the national security police over a small and peaceful student rally at the Chinese University of Hong Kong last month, including three accused of breaching the national security law.

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Nathan Law: ‘No one knows when I can go back to Hong Kong’

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The 27-year-old activist, who was forced to flee the city by Beijing’s crackdown, is determined to continue the fight for freedom

Nathan Law began 2020 planning a new run for office in Hong Kong. He has ended it a political exile in Britain, unsure if he will ever be able to return to the city he calls home, or speak to his family again, because of his work campaigning for democracy.

The end of the year has been particularly painful for the 27-year-old. He has watched from the other side of the world as friends in Hong Kong, including Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, have been jailed for their campaign work. He has been unable to send them even an email of support.

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Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy figure Jimmy Lai charged with fraud

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Lai, whose newspaper Apple daily was raided by police this year, is denied bail until April amid accusations of improper use of his office space

Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong media tycoon and pro-democracy activist whose Apple Daily newspaper was raided by police earlier this year, has been denied bail after being charged with fraud. Lai – the owner of Hong Kong tabloid and founder of Next Digital Media – will be held on remand until his next court date in April next year.

Lai has been one of the loudest pro-democracy voices in Hong Kong, amid a worsening crackdown on dissent. On Wednesday Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam were jailed for their activism.

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Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong jailed for 13 and a half months over protest

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Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam also sentenced over pro-democracy protest at police HQ last year

The high-profile Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong will spend more than a year in jail over an unauthorised protest outside police headquarters in June last year, a court in the city has ruled.

Fellow activists Agnes Chow, 23, and Ivan Lam, 26, were sentenced to 10 months and seven months respectively.

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Exiled bookseller: ‘If they can take Hong Kong back, the next place is Taiwan’

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After fleeing Hong Kong for Taiwan, Lam Wing-kee speaks of the danger the island faces and the ordeal of his detention in China

Lam Wing-kee leans forward in his chair, answering quickly and sharply to issue a warning to the people of his new home, Taiwan. “Be ready now,” he says.

“We should be more alert as citizens, we should get ready,” says the 64-year-old Hongkonger. “If they can take Hong Kong back, the next place, I feel, is Taiwan.”

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‘Piles of cash at home’: Hong Kong leader says US sanctions mean she has no bank account

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Carrie Lam says she is paid in cash and calls US sanctions imposed over security crackdown ‘unjustifiable’

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said she keeps “piles of cash” at home because she has no bank account after the United States imposed sanctions on her in response to the crackdown on free speech and political freedoms in the city.

Lam was targeted, along with 14 other senior city officials, in the toughest US action on Hong Kong yet since Beijing imposed the new law on the territory in late June.

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‘Remarkably effective’: Carrie Lam praises Hong Kong national security law

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Chief executive says in annual address the city’s problems driven by ‘external forces’ and pandemic

Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, has defended the crackdown on opposition by her government and Beijing, and praised the widely criticised national security law – while seeking to blame the city’s woes on foreign interference and the pandemic.

Lam’s annual policy address – which was postponed from October to allow for further consultation with Beijing – was delivered on Wednesday to a legislative council without its opposition members after the mass resignation of the pro-democracy caucus.

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Hong Kong activists face jail after guilty plea – video

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Pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Ivan Lam and Agnes Chow arrived at West Kowloon magistrates courts to face charges related to illegal assembly stemming from a protest last year in Hong Kong.

The trial was scheduled to begin on Monday, but after pleading guilty they were taken away ahead of a sentencing hearing on Wednesday next week.

The trio of high-profile pro-democracy activists and former politicians, were facing multiple charges over an unauthorised protest outside police headquarters in June last year, and inciting others to take part.

They face a penalty of up to five years in prison 

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Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces jail after guilty plea over police HQ protests

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Joshua Wong urges everyone to ‘hang in there, add oil’ as he, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam are taken away ahead of sentencing next week

Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam face the prospect of jail after pleading guilty to charges relating to protests outside a police station last year.

The trial was scheduled to begin on Monday, but after pleading guilty they were taken away ahead of a sentencing hearing on Wednesday next week, where they face a penalty of up to five years in prison. Wong said he expected to be jailed.

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China says Five Eyes alliance will be ‘poked and blinded’ over Hong Kong stance

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Foreign ministry rejects calls by western security grouping to reinstate ousted pro-democracy lawmakers

China has rejected criticism by the Five Eyes alliance of its Hong Kong policy, saying it “should face up to the reality” that the former British colony has been returned to China.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian was responding to a statement on Hong Kong issued by the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, which together make up an intelligence partnership known as the Five Eyes.

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