A mainland Chinese student was jailed in Hong Kong yesterday over a plan to unfurl a massive banner commemorating Beijing’s Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Zeng Yuxuan (曾雨璇), 23, was accused of planning the display on a footbridge in a major commercial district of Hong Kong on the anniversary of the crackdown this year.
She pleaded guilty to one count of “attempt to carry out acts with seditious intent” and was sentenced to a total of six months in jail by Peter Law (羅德泉), a magistrate handpicked by the government to handle national security cases.
Photo: AFP
The 9m banner displayed the “Pillar of Shame” — a sculpture commemorating the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the Chinese capital.
Discussion of the event is highly sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party and commemoration of the hundreds killed — by some estimates, more than 1,000 — has long been forbidden in mainland China, and is increasingly so in Hong Kong.
Zeng, a student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was arrested by police in the territory in early June, before she could carry out her planned protest.
Law said Zeng was part of “a global action” and worked with “overseas persons with international influence.”
He found Zeng’s plan “comprehensive and detailed,” including renting a hotel room to appear as if she was a mainland tourist, notifying news outlets and preparing responses in case she was caught.
The Sing Tao Daily last month reported that Hong Kong police planned to arrest Danish artist Jens Galschiot, who made the original sculpture, and extradite him to China’s justice system if he tried to enter the territory.
The sculpture was dismantled and removed from the University of Hong Kong in December 2021 as the authorities clamped down on Tiananmen commemorations.
Hong Kong used to hold large annual candlelight vigils to mourn the crackdown.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious
RSS