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United States President Joe Biden is expected to bar Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee from the US-hosted APEC meeting in San Francisco. Frances Hui said, "The twisted tactics of the Beijing-controlled Hong Kong government have no place in the United States and other democratic countries. Thank you to the United States for taking a stand for Hong Kong and the greater Hong Kong diaspora as we face the trauma of not being able to return to the city we call home."
The Hong Kong Democracy Council's annual Hong Kong Summit this week gathered some 150 activists to chart a course for the city’s democratic future. Speakers included Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Representative Jim McGovern, Chairman of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and Chinese Communist Party Mike Gallagher, and other leaders on China policy including Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Chris Smith. The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation’s (CFHK Foundation) Policy and Advocacy Coordinator Frances Hui spoke at the opening dinner. Ms Hui and Washington Director Olivia Enos shared the CFHK Foundation's policy vision with participants throughout the summit.
Frances Hui, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator (left) and Olivia Enos, Washington Director
The Hong Kong authorities questioned the family of US-based Elmer Yuen, one of the eight exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy activists with a HK$1 million bounty on his head. Mark Sabah, UK and EU Director of the CFHK Foundation, said, “The Hong Kong authorities are so fearful of freedom that they are targeting 74-year-old Elmer Yuen like their targeting of 75-year-old Jimmy Lai. The US, UK and Australian governments must take concrete action to immediately support the Hong Kong Eight.”
A man and a woman in Hong Kong linked to UK-based Nathan Law, who has a bounty on his head, were arrested for colluding with foreign forces and committing acts with seditious intent.
The CFHK Foundation is circulating a letter which has reached more than 250 signatures that affirms if the Hong Kong Eight are guilty, then all those who stand on the side of freedom in Hong Kong are guilty, too. In addition to signing on to the letter, we encourage our supporters to post a picture of yourself with a white piece of paper using the hashtag #IAmGuiltyToo on social media.
Tenzin Kunga, Advocacy Officer at Free Tibet, authored this week’s ‘Flame of Freedom’ blog, Qin Gang Meets the Untold Suffering of Missing Tibetans, Hongkongers and Uyghurs. He wrote, “While Qin Gang’s prolonged absence has captured major headlines around the world, sadly the fate of several missing Tibetans, Hongkongers, Uyghurs, Falun Gong followers, Chinese lawyers and democracy activists has gone silently unnoticed.”
Hong Kong
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong signed seven agreements to boost their cooperation as Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury for Hong Kong, saidHong Kong is rebuilding its status as a financial hub in Southeast Asia.
Gwyneth Ho raised the heat in the trial of the Hong Kong 47, defending her past description of the Chinese Communist Party as “totalitarian” to be objective and claiming that “organising an unofficial legislative primary poll was not a ‘waste of time,’ despite knowing pro-democracy candidates may not win majority control as they wished.”
A 69-year-old man accused of playing the pro-democracy anthem Glory to Hong Kong in public without a permit told a Hong Kong court that his right “to enjoy benefits relating to his performance” is protected under the United Nations’s International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Ten Hong Kongers were convicted for rioting during the extradition bill protests in 2019.
Hong Kong continues to use the offence of sedition to detain not only prominent pro-democracy activists but ordinary Hong Kongers who are simply trying to live in the city they call home.
UK-China Relations
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly delayed his trip to Chinaafter the disappearance of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
Ken McCallum, Director of MI5, warned that UK students are “magnetic targets” for spies from “hostile states” including China. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should follow through on his predecessor's promise to close the Chinese Communist Party’s Confucius Institutes which continue to operate in British universities.
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