Hong Kong democracy advocates yesterday staged a rare public protest against government plans for a new national security law, saying it lacked democratic oversight and human rights safeguards.
Public demonstrations have all but vanished in the Chinese territory since Beijing quelled huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019 and imposed a sweeping National Security Law.
Hong Kong officials now say a further homegrown security law is needed to plug “loopholes,” with Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Paul Lam (林定國) earlier saying that he heard no objections during a month of public consultations that ends today, but Yu Wai-pan, from the League of Social Democrats (LSD), yesterday said that “many Hong Kongers are quite concerned.”
Photo: AFP
“I don’t understand why the secretary for justice said he heard no objection or worry,” Yu said.
The LSD is one of the last remaining opposition groups in Hong Kong and its members have faced multiple prosecutions for their shows of dissent.
Yu and two other activists were surrounded by reporters and more than a dozen police officers as they chanted slogans outside the Hong Kong Government headquarters yesterday.
“National security is important to the people, but it must be based on democracy, freedom and rule of law,” activist Chan Po-ying (陳寶瑩) said.
The government referenced examples in the US and the UK in defending the proposed legislation, but Chan said that comparison was misleading, as Hong Kong is not a democracy.
The month-long public consultation for the new security law, known as Basic Law Article 23, was largely limited to pro-Beijing voices, she said.
Chinese Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office Director Xia Baolong (夏寶龍) arrived in the territory last week in a tightly choreographed tour to meet with leaders in business and politics.
Xia discussed the security law proposal with two local lawyers’ groups in a closed-door meeting and engaged in “candid exchanges,” the head of the Hong Kong Bar Association told reporters.
Separately yesterday, Hong Kong convicted Joseph John — also known as Wong Kin-chung — of “conspiracy to incite secession,” the first such case involving a dual national.
The Portuguese citizen, 41, pleaded guilty to the national security offense, admitting that he was chair of the UK-based Hong Kong Independence Party and an administrator of its six online platforms.
A diplomatic source said that the Portuguese consulate has been unable to visit John since he was arrested and detained in November 2022.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS