Hong Kong’s top legal official told residents to steer clear of criticisms of the government that stray too far from the facts, as officials defend Beijing’s plan to overhaul the territory’s elections.
Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng (鄭若驊) said in an interview yesterday that opinions are “no more than an utterance of no value” if the facts are not established.
Cheng was answering a question about what kind of criticism would be legal in Hong Kong as it implements a range of legal changes, including a National Security Law and the electoral overhaul.
Photo: Bloomberg
“Some of the statements that are sometimes uttered, that we hear, are actually not based on facts, or perhaps oblivious of the facts that exist,” Cheng told Bloomberg Television. “And I think that is what one has to be very careful not to embark upon.”
Officials in Beijing and Hong Kong are fanning out to defend the most significant changes to the territory’s political system since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.
Chinese lawmakers are expected later this week to approve a sweeping electoral overhaul that would require candidates for elected office to be “patriots” and secure nominations from a pro-Beijing committee.
The moves, including Beijing’s imposition of a National Security Law on Hong Kong outlawing speech deemed subversive or secessionist, have been criticized by the US and the UK as a breach of China’s treaty commitment to maintain the territory’s “high degree of autonomy.”
On Monday, a group of US lawmakers, including US senators Ed Markey and Mitt Romney, called on US President Joe Biden’s administration to work with allies and partners to support Hong Kongers.
Cheng — who was among senior officials sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury in August last year on allegations of “undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy” — yesterday reiterated the government’s argument that the security law had restored stability.
“Please look at the actual facts and then see what’s happening in Hong Kong,” she said in response to the lawmakers’ statement.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS