TOP NEWS
The U.S. State Department on Monday imposed sanctions on six Chinese and Hong Kong officials, holding them responsible for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and democratic freedoms and orchestrating transnational repression of Hong Kong activists in exile.
The newly sanctioned individuals – Sonny Au Chi Kwong (區志光), Dong Jingwei (董經緯), Dick Wong Chung Chun (王忠巡), Margaret Chiu Wing Lan (趙詠蘭), Raymond Siu Chak Yee (蕭澤頤), and Paul Lam Ting Kwok (林定國) – are senior figures involved in enforcing Beijing’s repressive national security policies in Hong Kong.
The six sanctioned senior Hong Kong law enforcement personnel responsible
for repression in Hong Kong and overseas. (CFHK Foundation)
Frances Hui, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation, said:
“We commend the State Department for sending a clear message that repression will not go unanswered. The officials named are directly responsible for enforcing draconian policies, imprisoning pro-democracy activists, and expanding their persecution across borders by placing bounties on those of us forced into exile – including myself.
Media including DW, The New York Times, and Reuters picked up the story and Frances Hui’s comments.
U.S. Congressional Representatives Chris Smith, John Moolenaar, Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Thomas Suozzi introduced legislation to rename the street outside the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in Washington, D.C., “Jimmy Lai Way.”
CFHK Foundation U.S. Director Jonathan Stivers said:
“The CFHK Foundation appreciates the strong leadership of Reps. Smith, Moolenaar, Krishnamoorthi, and Suozzi for their support of freedom and the rule of law in Hong Kong. Jimmy Lai must be released immediately and unconditionally and, until that time, the street outside the Hong Kong government’s de facto embassy should remind Chinese and Hong Kong diplomats every single day that we will not rest until Jimmy Lai and all political prisoners in Hong Kong are free.”
Preview of a new street in Washington, D.C.: Wall projection on the U.S.
Department of Energy. (CFHK Foundation)
Canadian MP Paul Chiang on Tuesday stepped aside as a Liberal Party parliamentary candidate in Canada’s upcoming general election after pressure from Hong Kong campaign groups, including the CFHK Foundation, over comments he made encouraging people to kidnap his Conservative Party rival in the race, Joe Tay, in return for a HK$1 million Hong Kong police bounty.
CFHK Foundation Strategy & Public Affairs Advisor Shannon Van Sant said:
The Hong Kong government’s issuance of bounties and arrest warrants on activists is a shameless attempt at interference, and we are outraged that a Canadian politician would endorse this transnational repression against people seeking peace, comfort and freedom in a democratic country.
North America – Hong Kong
U.S. Representative Chris Smith and Senator Jeff Merkley nominated Jimmy Lai for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize alongside four other defenders of human rights, peace, and freedom in China and Hong Kong – Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, ethnic Mongol activist Hada, Chinese Protestant pastor Wang Yi, and journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin.
CFHK Foundation President Mark Clifford said:
“All five nominated human rights defenders who are unjustly imprisoned for daring to tell the truth and stand up to tyranny deserve to be celebrated. We call on the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and the international community to recognize the bravery and sacrifice of Jimmy Lai as the face of Hong Kong people’s fight in resisting Chinese authoritarian rule.”
The U.S. Department of State released its 2024 Hong Kong Policy Act report and reaffirmed its certification that Hong Kong does not warrant the differential treatment under U.S. law it enjoyed before the 1997 handover to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Officials in Beijing and Hong Kong continue to use “national security” as a pretext to undermine the territory’s judicial independence and rule of law, the report said, adding that there is “no expectation of a fair trial” in national security cases.
The CFHK Foundation joined Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) in renewing calls for the Canadian government to sanction Hong Kong officials responsible for human rights abuses and repression.
CFHK Foundation joined Hong Kong Democracy Council and Hong Kong Watch in circulating a travel advisory warning Hong Kongers on Deferred Enforced Departure against non-essential travel pending further federal guidance to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers about their status.
UK – Hong Kong
CFHK Foundation staffer Chloe Cheung penned an op-ed in The Independent on how British weakness in pushing back on the HK$1 million bounties placed on 10 UK-resident Hong Kong activists has emboldened the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to go further in their targeting of Australia-based activists Kevin Yam and Ted Hui.
The 10 bountied activists signed a letter, led by Hong Kong Watch, to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, urging the Foreign Office to follow the United States’ lead in sanctioning the Hong Kong officials responsible for issuing overseas bounties on pro-democracy activists and cracking down on freedom in Hong Kong.
In France, Le Monde published a deep dive on the experience of Hong Kongers targeted by CCP transnational repression in the UK, including Chloe Cheung.
Hong Kong
Australian Judge James Allsop provided the swing vote in a 3-2 decision to overturn the acquittal of former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting for disclosing the identity of a police officer under investigation, ensuring his first act as a non-permanent judge on Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal (CFA) was to side with the government in convicting a democrat.
Chinese dissident artist Badiucao tested the limits of freedom of expression in Hong Kong during Art Week by arranging for two billboards in Mong Kok to display him silently mouthing the Mao Zedong quote, “You must take part in revolution.” They were both removed.
Jimmy Lai Biography, ‘Troublemaker’ Updates
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Lord Charles Moore drew on “The Troublemaker” to tell Jimmy Lai’s story and argue that British Judge Lord David Neuberger’s continued presence as a non-permanent judge on the CFA lends “spurious respectably to this [legal] charade.”