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The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK Foundation) hosted Anna Kwok, Executive Director of Hong Kong Democracy Council in the United States; Finn Lau, Founder of Hong Kong Liberty in the United Kingdom; and Ted Hui, former Hong Kong legislator based in Australia for a virtual discussion on Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee’s issuance of HK$1 million bounties for their arrest. Anna Kwok shared how the bounties were announced to incite fear among the greater Hong Kong diaspora. Finn Lau emphasised the collapse of the judicial system in Hong Kong. Ted Hui said, “Ironically, it gives me a lot of public attention and fuel… to say to China with an attitude, ‘I don’t give a damn, you can’t harm me.’”
The CFHK Foundation launched a letter and social media campaign to stand in solidarity with the eight exiled Hong Kong activists who have bounties on their heads. The letter affirms that 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 you to post a photo of yourself with a white piece of paper using the hashtag #IAmGuiltyToo.
The Hong Kong national security police questioned the families of UK-based Hong Kong trade unionist Christopher Mung and US-based Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Dennis Kwok, two of the eight exiled Hong Kong activists with bounties on their heads. Mark Sabah, UK and EU Director of the CFHK Foundation, said, “We will continue to call for high-level meetings between the Home Office, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the three UK-based Hong Kongers to seek assurances about their safety.”
In response to the eight bounties, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator for the CFHK Foundation Frances Hui wrote in RealClearPolitics, “I am not one of the eight, but all of us who fight for democracy in Hong Kong are in danger from a Chinese government that is chasing us for showing that it has broken its promises to keep Hong Kong a vibrant and free city-state.”
Olivia Enos, Washington Director of the CFHK Foundation, spoke on a panel at the Hudson Institute to discuss transnational repression by the Chinese authorities. Mrs Enos raised how the Hong Kong government is targeting the Hong Kong Eight and offered policy responses for the US government.
The CFHK Foundation submitted evidence to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review of China (Hong Kong) which will be considered in early 2024. Frances Hui said, “It is key that the United Nations and all its member states take seriously how the Hong Kong government under the control of the Chinese Communist Party is destroying our beloved home and act to preserve the independence of the judiciary and civic freedoms in Hong Kong.”
Simon Cheng, Founder of Hongkongers in Britain, wrote in the CFHK Foundation’s Flame of Freedom blog about the Hong Kong diaspora’s struggle for justice in the face of the Hong Kong authorities issuing HK$1 million bounties for the arrest of eight Hong Kong activists in the US, UK and Australia.
Hong Kong
Beijing appointed Dong Jingwei, former deputy minister for counter-espionage services in mainland China, to be the national security chief of Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong authorities may exempt TV and radio programmes that promote national identity and education as well as “correct understanding” from the impartiality clause.
A professional e-sports player in Hong Kong was suspended for three years for using “sensitive wording” that translates to ‘liberate’ in his gaming account name. The livestream from his latest game has already been removed from YouTube.
A Hong Kong court sentenced a man who uploaded Glory to Hong Kong rather than the Chinese national anthem on YouTube during the Tokyo Olympics to three months behind bars.
UK-China Relations
The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office made a formal complaint to Chinese Ambassador to the UK Zheng Zeguang regarding the bounties on the heads of the Hong Kong Eight and the questioning of Nathan Law’s family.
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