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.
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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).
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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