Five organizers of a massive pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong were charged by police yesterday with a range of minor offences, as pressure builds on Chinese Communist Party rulers in Beijing to introduce political reforms in the former British colony.
The pro-democracy march on Tuesday, which organizers said attracted more than half a million people, and a subsequent sit-in by mainly student groups rank among the biggest challenges yet to China since the July 1, 1997, handover.
Police said the charges brought against the organizers included failure to comply with instructions from a police officer, obstructing officers performing their duties, leaving a running vehicle and providing false information to an officer. Police did not name those charged.
Photo: AFP
“This is political persecution,” Civil Human Rights Front vice convenor Icarus Wong (王浩賢) said. “Five-hundred ten-thousand people marched ... the government’s response is to arrest the organizers.”
Wong said police arrested Civil Human Rights Front convenor Johnson Yeung (楊政賢), the group’s treasurer, a driver, and two volunteer workers.
Wong said one charge — that of providing false information — brought against one of the organizers was for giving police the incorrect number for a street address, though the correct street name was provided.
The July 1 march is an annual event that marks Hong Kong’s return to China as a special administrative region under a “one country, two systems” policy that gives it wide-ranging autonomy and a separate legal system.
This year, however, the march followed an unofficial referendum on democracy in which nearly 800,000 voted, and led to an overnight sit-in in Hong Kong’s Central business district. Police arrested more than 500 people early on Wednesday after they sat down and refused to leave.
Tensions escalated again on Thursday when lawmakers pelted Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) with objects during a Legislative Council meeting, and shouted for democratic reforms.
Meanwhile, China’s top newspaper yesterday dismissed fears that the territory’s autonomy was being eroded, saying Beijing’s policy had not and would not change.
In a front page commentary, the People’s Daily said the white paper Beijing published last month was proof that China was committed to Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy.
“Some people think that the white paper deviated from the basic policy the center [of the party] first proposed, and others worry about whether the center will squeeze Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy,” it wrote. “This is all totally baseless.”
Critics of the white paper say its assertion of China’s “comprehensive jurisdiction” over Hong Kong, as well as its requirement that the territory’s “administrators,” including judges, be patriotic, are violations of the Basic Law and the agreement that China signed with Britain which paved the way for the handover.
The newspaper admitted that in the 1980s, when Beijing came up with its proposals for Hong Kong, some people in the territory feared China’s changing its position.
But since former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) promised the high degree of autonomy and it was written into Hong Kong’s Basic Law, country’s leaders have never veered from this course, it said.
“Experience proves the center keeps its promises, and the center’s basic policy toward Hong Kong is completely correct,” it said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS