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The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK Foundation), Ronald Reagan Institute and Foundation for Defense of Democracies co-hosted a screening of The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom and discussion featuring Sebastien Lai, son of Jimmy Lai; Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, lead international lawyer for Jimmy Lai and Sebastien Lai; Mark Clifford, President of the CFHK Foundation; Jay Nordlinger, Senior Editor at National Review and Sunny Chueng, Visiting Fellow at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Sebastien Lai said, "During the handover, my father was asked if he would leave Apple Daily if China came for him. He said it was time to see if they were willing to pay a high price for their convictions. And he has paid every day for some thirty odd years."
Mark Clifford spoke at the World Hong Kong Forum about the declining situation in Hong Kong. He raised the unprecedented and worrying bounties on eight exiled Hongkongers abroad, British citizen Jimmy Lai and the Hong Kong government’s ‘Hello Hong Kong’ campaign in a city where business is not as usual.
Politicians from more than 20 countries attended the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) Summit in Prague to discuss Beijing’s role in global politics and to honour Jimmy Lai, a U.K. citizen who has been behind bars in Hong Kong for almost 1,000 days.
Dr Andreas Fulda, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham, authored this week’s 'Flame of Freedom' blog about how the U.K. government should approach cooperation with China. “It is high time that we build a democratic united front against the Chinese Communist Party’s autocratic united front,” wrote Dr Fulda.
Hong Kong
A Hong Kong court denied bail to a man accused of importing children’s books about sheep and wolves considered seditious by the Hong Kong authorities.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee refused to inform the media whether the Hong Kong government would reopen demonstration areas in the city.
The Hong Kong authorities expanded a programme of compulsory school trips to mainland China for Hong Kong students to learn “revolutionary education” and Chinese Communist Party history.
The Hong Kong Education Bureau announced that new public school teachers will be required to take a Basic Law and National Security Law Test to be considered for appointment.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong selected students for a new flag-guard team that was established to nurture students’ sense of national belonging. During the first flag raising ceremony of the academic year, Chinese and Hong Kong flags were held while the university president gave a speech on national security in Mandarin.
UK-China Relations
The British Parliament hosted a debate on British nationals who are detained overseas. During the debate, Catherine West MP said, “Ministers must do more to reassure British nationals that they will be supported… We share the concern about Jimmy Lai… we met Sebastien Lai who is desperate about the situation of his father wrongly imprisoned for freedom of the press.”
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