NEWSLETTER: China advances democratic crackdown abroad with NGOs and campaigners targeted
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Every week, this newsletter will bring you the latest updates and developments concerning freedom in Hong Kong.
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Every week, this newsletter will bring you the latest updates and developments concerning freedom in Hong Kong.
To subscribe to our newsletter, click here.
Prisoners of Conscience
UK-based NGO Hong Kong Watch received a formal warning from the Hong Kong Police Force’s National Security Department accusing the organisation’s website of having breached the National Security Law. Hong Kong Watch’s Chief Executive Benedict Rogers was accused of “Engaging in activities seriously interfering in the affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and jeopardising the national security of the People’s Republic of China.” UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss stated that it was an “unjustifiable action,” meanwhile Amnesty International stated that “human rights activists… should never be intimidated or prosecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression.” The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong’s President Mark Clifford said the latest move from the Chinese Communist Party was “an outrageous attempt to shut down freedom of speech worldwide.”
Potted plants have replaced the Tiananmen Square 1989 massacre tribute on Swire Bridge at the University of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Free Press reported that the slogan which read “Souls of martyrs shall forever glow for the demise of evils,” which was painted over in January, had been further covered over with a row of potted plants. The complete erasure of the slogan was part of a wider clampdown on commemorations of the Tiananmen Square massacre crackdown at universities across Hong Kong.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong has told artist Chen Weiming that they see no “real urgency” to return his Goddess of Democracy statue, which was removed last December. The Hong Kong Free Press reported that the university said they would only return the statue, which commemorates the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, to its creator if he agreed to bear any legal consequences and costs which may arise from its transportation from Hong Kong to the US, where he lives.
US prosecutors have accused China of spying on and harassing dissidents. The Guardian reported that the US justice department convened a Washington news conference to detail the accusations in a series of criminal cases. In one case, federal prosecutors in New York claimed a Chinese government agent asked a US-based private investigator to help manufacture a political scandal that would undermine a congressional candidate. In another, Chinese government agents are accused of spying on employees of a human rights organisation based in Washington.
Among some of the targets in the US was Arthur Liu, the father of Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu. CNBC reported that Liu, who is a lawyer and political activist in San Francisco, helped to organise pro-democracy demonstrations when he lived in China.
Press
An anonymous Twitter account, ‘The Great Translation Movement’, has been translating online commentary and content on the Russian invasion of Ukraine that is published in China. Radio Free Asia reported that the account is exposing Beijing’s censored coverage and misinformation inside the Great Firewall. The account started in mid-February, amid growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with volunteers selecting and tweeting various examples of Chinese online comments using the hashtag #TheGreatTranslationMovement in various languages.
In Other News
Two UK publishers, Octopus Books and Quarto, have been reported as censoring books intended for western readers to ensure they could be printed cheaply in China. The news is the latest example of international companies bowing to Beijing’s restrictions on free speech. The Financial Times reported that Octopus Books and Quarto have removed references to Taiwan and other subjects banned by Chinese authorities from several books. Since 2020, Octopus, a “leading publisher of non-fiction”, has removed references in at least two books to Taiwan and, in one case, an entire section relating to Taiwan was cut.
Australian Senator James Paterson has said that British universities have been a “soft underbelly” for Chinese influence. The Evening Standard reported that, at a Henry Jackson Society event, Paterson said: “They haven’t really interrogated the dual use of some forms of technologies and the way in which that could be used and they haven’t really thought very hard and very deep about why, for example, the People’s Liberation Army might be wanting to sponsor a PhD student in their faculty.” The senator highlighted concerns that Chinese students were being watched, intimidated and censored by fellow students, preventing them from speaking out about issues in China.
In the same speech, Senator Paterson claimed that a failure to impose “meaningful sanctions” on China over Hong Kong has led Beijing to believe it has “got away” with breaking its word. Yahoo News reported that during the think tank event, Senator Paterson said that the UK and the West had not taken strong enough action following the imposition of the brutal National Security Law.
The number of Chinese undergraduate students at British universities will soar over the next couple of years as China’s 18-year-old population grows, according to a report by Sinorbis, a digital marketing group. The Times reported that Sinorbis has predicted that the number of Chinese students choosing to study at British universities will rise exponentially and grow to 50,000 by 2030. Last year, 25,800 came to the UK to study.
UK-based NGO Hong Kong Watch received a formal warning from the Hong Kong Police Force’s National Security Department accusing the organisation’s website of having breached the National Security Law. Hong Kong Watch’s Chief Executive Benedict Rogers was accused of “Engaging in activities seriously interfering in the affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and jeopardising the national security of the People’s Republic of China.” UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss stated that it was an “unjustifiable action,” meanwhile Amnesty International stated that “human rights activists… should never be intimidated or prosecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression.” The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong’s President Mark Clifford said the latest move from the Chinese Communist Party was “an outrageous attempt to shut down freedom of speech worldwide.”
Potted plants have replaced the Tiananmen Square 1989 massacre tribute on Swire Bridge at the University of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Free Press reported that the slogan which read “Souls of martyrs shall forever glow for the demise of evils,” which was painted over in January, had been further covered over with a row of potted plants. The complete erasure of the slogan was part of a wider clampdown on commemorations of the Tiananmen Square massacre crackdown at universities across Hong Kong.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong has told artist Chen Weiming that they see no “real urgency” to return his Goddess of Democracy statue, which was removed last December. The Hong Kong Free Press reported that the university said they would only return the statue, which commemorates the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, to its creator if he agreed to bear any legal consequences and costs which may arise from its transportation from Hong Kong to the US, where he lives.
US prosecutors have accused China of spying on and harassing dissidents. The Guardian reported that the US justice department convened a Washington news conference to detail the accusations in a series of criminal cases. In one case, federal prosecutors in New York claimed a Chinese government agent asked a US-based private investigator to help manufacture a political scandal that would undermine a congressional candidate. In another, Chinese government agents are accused of spying on employees of a human rights organisation based in Washington.
Among some of the targets in the US was Arthur Liu, the father of Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu. CNBC reported that Liu, who is a lawyer and political activist in San Francisco, helped to organise pro-democracy demonstrations when he lived in China.
Press
An anonymous Twitter account, ‘The Great Translation Movement’, has been translating online commentary and content on the Russian invasion of Ukraine that is published in China. Radio Free Asia reported that the account is exposing Beijing’s censored coverage and misinformation inside the Great Firewall. The account started in mid-February, amid growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with volunteers selecting and tweeting various examples of Chinese online comments using the hashtag #TheGreatTranslationMovement in various languages.
In Other News
Two UK publishers, Octopus Books and Quarto, have been reported as censoring books intended for western readers to ensure they could be printed cheaply in China. The news is the latest example of international companies bowing to Beijing’s restrictions on free speech. The Financial Times reported that Octopus Books and Quarto have removed references to Taiwan and other subjects banned by Chinese authorities from several books. Since 2020, Octopus, a “leading publisher of non-fiction”, has removed references in at least two books to Taiwan and, in one case, an entire section relating to Taiwan was cut.
Australian Senator James Paterson has said that British universities have been a “soft underbelly” for Chinese influence. The Evening Standard reported that, at a Henry Jackson Society event, Paterson said: “They haven’t really interrogated the dual use of some forms of technologies and the way in which that could be used and they haven’t really thought very hard and very deep about why, for example, the People’s Liberation Army might be wanting to sponsor a PhD student in their faculty.” The senator highlighted concerns that Chinese students were being watched, intimidated and censored by fellow students, preventing them from speaking out about issues in China.
In the same speech, Senator Paterson claimed that a failure to impose “meaningful sanctions” on China over Hong Kong has led Beijing to believe it has “got away” with breaking its word. Yahoo News reported that during the think tank event, Senator Paterson said that the UK and the West had not taken strong enough action following the imposition of the brutal National Security Law.
The number of Chinese undergraduate students at British universities will soar over the next couple of years as China’s 18-year-old population grows, according to a report by Sinorbis, a digital marketing group. The Times reported that Sinorbis has predicted that the number of Chinese students choosing to study at British universities will rise exponentially and grow to 50,000 by 2030. Last year, 25,800 came to the UK to study.