TOP NEWS
Former pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting and six others were found guilty of rioting in connection with the 2019 Yuen Long MTR Station attacks. Bloomberg News posted a video showing that they were in fact defending Hong Kong citizens against gangsters who brutally attacked protesters. They now face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The CFHK Foundation condemns the unjust sentencing, which is yet another instance of the victims becoming the victimised under Hong Kong’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Gangsters (in white T-shirts) and Hong Kong Police Force officers confront protestors during the Yuen Long MTR station attack on July 21, 2019.
Hong Kong
A Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI) survey showed that more Hong Kongers than ever believe the city’s media are self-censoring. Sixty-five percent of respondents believe local media are holding back in their reporting, marking an eight percent increase from the previous year and a record high since the survey's 1997 inception.
Four more pro-democracy figures, Raymond Chan, Tat Cheng, Kalvin Ho, and Tam Tak-chi, have appealed their convictions and sentences after the High Court handed them prison terms of at least four-and-a-half years on charges of "subversion" under the National Security Law.
U.S. - Hong Kong
Frances Hui, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at the CFHK Foundation, spoke at “Sanctioned Voices: Spotlighting China’s Global Repression,” a panel event co-hosted by the Hudson Institute’s China Center, the National Security Institute, and the International Republican Institute. Hui provided insights on the PRC’s use of lawfare to threaten global democracy and suggested U.S. policy measures to counter PRC economic and political coercion.
Hui said, “Transnational repression is a strategy the CCP has been using for decades. The idea is twofold: The first aspect is to increase the cost of speaking out against CCP repression. The second is to create a chilling effect that prevents diaspora communities from speaking out."
Left to right: Miles Yu, Director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute (moderator), Frances Hui, Uyghur American Association President Elfidar Iltebir, and Dr. Jonathan Ward, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. Credit: Hudson Institute
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced that the PRC has decided to impose visa restrictions on certain U.S. personnel who, she said, have "behaved badly" on Hong Kong-related issues and "excessively interfered" in Hong Kong affairs.
CFHK Foundation staff met with Representative Tom Suozzi, who in April introduced a bill to rename the street outside the Washington Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) “Jimmy Lai Way,” to discuss Hong Kong policy priorities. We deeply appreciate Rep. Suozzi’s steadfast support for the people of Hong Kong and look forward to working together further in 2025.
Left to right: Shannon van Sant, Rep. Tom Suozzi, Frances Hui, and Jonathan Stivers. Credit: CFHK Foundation
Mike Gonzalez, Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum Senior Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, published an op-ed in the Washington Examiner highlighting the critical role President-elect Donald Trump can play in securing the release of Jimmy Lai. Trump, who has vowed to “100 percent get Jimmy Lai out of prison,” now has an opportunity to fulfill this campaign promise and make a stand against PRC oppression.
UK - Hong Kong
The London HKETO hit the headlines Thursday after its former London office manager, Bill Yuen, pled not guilty to charges of spying for the Hong Kong authorities. Yuen and Peter Wai, another suspect, both deny gathering information and conducting surveillance on behalf of a foreign intelligence service. They are scheduled to stand trial at London’s Central Criminal Court in March. The CFHK Foundation continues to highlight HKETOs involvement in the monitoring and intimidation of the Hong Kong diaspora and calls on the UK and U.S. governments to revoke their diplomatic privileges or shut them down entirely.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that an alleged PRC spy with business ties to Prince Andrew was refused entry to the UK on national security grounds.
Alyssa Fong, CFHK Foundation Public Affairs and Advocacy Manager, spoke at the Labour Foreign Policy Group and Labour Campaign for Human Rights event, “The UK’s China Policy Challenge: Standing Up for UK Values and Interests.” Fong said, “We must show that there are consequences for transnational repression and [the CCP’s] malign activities targeting the UK, which include cyber-attacks and sanctions on parliamentarians. Unfortunately, raising cases involving human rights abuses is not enough. We need to start pulling levers, including shuttering Confucius Institutes and the espionage-implicated HKETOs, imposing targeted sanctions, and enhancing legal protections for citizens imprisoned in the PRC or Hong Kong.”
Jimmy Lai Trial Updates
CFHK Foundation marked Jimmy Lai’s 77th birthday on Sunday, the fifth that he has spent in prison. On Monday, his show trial continued with the prisoner of conscience returning to the stand to defend himself against the “collusion” charges. Asked by Judge Esther Toh what he had meant by “freedom” in a post that said, “Young people are the backbone of our freedom movement,” Lai responded, “freedom from China’s encroachments, freedom from dictatorship, and freedom under the rule of law.”
Detailed trial updates are available here: Support Jimmy Lai
‘The Troublemaker’ Release Week
Martin Vander Weyer praised ‘The Troublemaker’ in his latest column for The Spectator, placing the new biography of Jimmy Lai by CFHK Foundation President Mark Clifford at the “top of [his] Christmas reading list.”
Late last Friday, Clifford sat down with Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin at JF Books in Washington for a compelling discussion exploring Jimmy Lai‘s remarkable journey from a 12-year-old refugee fleeing the Great Famine to becoming one of Hong Kong’s most successful entrepreneurs and prominent pro-democracy voices.
Hong Kong Watch co-founder Benedict Rogers urged Tablet readers to buy the new biography, calling it a “compelling account of one of the bravest and most inspiring men I have ever had the privilege to know.”
Mark Clifford also spoke with AM640 host and former Toronto mayoral candidate Anthony Furey about the book. “He could be enjoying life but instead he chose freedom – [mental] freedom in a jail cell,” Clifford told Furey’s radio audience.
The National Review’s “The Bookmonger” podcast also spotlighted the book. “He wants the best for China; that’s the irony. He believes economic and political freedom is the only way to realise the potential of the Chinese nation,” Clifford told host John J. Miller.
The “John Batchelor Show” summed up what the CFHK Foundation stands for nicely with its radio spot “Hong Kong: Prosecuting Liberty Destroys the City,” which featured an interview with Clifford talking about “The Troublemaker.”
“The San Francisco Experience” podcaster Jim Herlihy also interviewed Clifford, allowing him to share the CFHK Foundation’s work shining light on injustices in Hong Kong, while the Acton Institute’s Dan Hugger hosted an hour-long podcast deep dive into Jimmy Lai’s life and impact on Hong Kong.