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Q: Raid in HK on Pro-Democracy Leaders ...
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/beijing-arrests-hong-kong-media-t...
Beijing Arrests Hong Kong Media Tycoon & 14 Activists In Sweeping Pro-Democracy Crackdown
Sat, 04/18/2020 - 10:10
We've been watching Hong Kong closely these past few weeks to see if Beijing, having mostly reopened the mainland economy, relieving the pressure for the first time in months, would turn its attention back to its top priority pre-corona: Crushing an insurgent pro-democracy movement in the Special Administrative Region.
Early on Saturday morning in Hong Kong, HK police arrested 15 pro-democracy movement activists, including a high-profile tycoon who was one of the few members of the HK business community to vehemently back the protest movement, according to the SCMP.
The targets included Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, and 14 other supporters. The pretext for the arrest was their involvement in last year's protests.
Jimmy Lai
Even if the name isn't widely known in the US, Lai is a major figure in the leaderless and mostly amorphous Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. He has been targeted before, including an attack on his home carried out last fall by thugs likely backed by the Communist Party.
The sweeping crackdown comes more than six months after the last major pro-democracy demonstration in the city, though some protesters took to the streets during the early weeks of the corona outbreak to demand that borders be closed and other heavy handed measures be taken by the city government to prevent a re-run of the SARS outbreak, which killed more than 300 in HK. That movement, of course, was first set in motion last spring in response to an extradition bill being expedited by the government that would have made Hong Kongers subject to prosecution (and, they feared, persecution) in mainland Communist Party-controlled courts.
Details provided by SCMP claimed that police tried to arrest Lai n the middle of the night, but were forced to wait until he returned home (American cops could definitely show their colleagues in Hong Kong a thing or two about how to pull off a 'tactical GPS takedown').
The arrest were reportedly sanctioned by Hong Kong Chief Executive and Beijing puppet Carrie Lam.
Officers earlier showed up at the home of the Apple Daily founder, but he was not in at the time. He returned in the afternoon and was arrested at 2.50pm. He was accused of organising and participating in unlawful marches on August 18 and October 1 from Causeway Bay to Chater Road in Central.
Police also entered and searched his place under a warrant.
Others arrested included former lawmakers Martin Lee Chu-ming, Albert Ho Chun-yan, Lee Cheuk-yan, “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung and Au Nok-hin, according to legal sources.
Several former lawmakers were also detained and arrested (Beijing has already pushed out many of the most progressive pro-democracy hardliners from the HK legislature), including those named by the SCMP below:
Also held were former lawmakers Yeung Sum, Sin Chung-kai, Cyd Ho Sau-lan, and activists Raphael Wong Ho-ming, Figo-Chan Ho-wun and Avery Ng Man-yuen.
They were detained over organising and joining unlawful assemblies on August 18, October 1 or October 20 last year. The suspects were taken to several police stations.
Martin Lee was taken to Central Police Station in Sheung Wan, while Leung Kwok-hung was sent to Ngau Tau Kok Police Station.
Police also showed up at the home of former legal sector lawmaker Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee. She later reported to Central Police Station and was arrested there. She was involved in the August 18 rally.
Several of those arrested were charged with additional crimes - that is, appearing at more rallies than the demonstrations cited above, according to a police superintendent. Lam added that the operations are "still ongoing" and that more arrests might follow. The arrested will be arraigned in a Hong Kong court on May 18.
Of course, this crackdown will be seen as nothing less than a brutal outrage and a betrayal by most democracy-minded Hong Kongers (the vast majority of the population). By arresting Lai and targeting other well-known figures in the movement, authorities almost seem like they're trying to bait Hong Kongers into returning to the streets.
Perhaps that's their strategy: If anybody tries to march this time, police can resort to brutally suppressive tactics in the name of safeguarding public health. However, we can't help but notice that it almost seems like Beijing is trying to trigger a return to the massive rallies of last summer.
But why is Beijing even willing to risk the possibility that thousands - potentially hundreds of thousands - of Hong Kongers might react by crowding into the streets in the middle of a resurgence of the virus? Recent reports from Hong Kong suggest the economy is already reopening, and locals are growing more comfortable being back out in the street.
Why did Beijing pick now to rock the boat, and prosecute individuals for crimes that roughly one-third of HK's population engaged in at one time or another?
3 years 23 weeks ago in Relationships - China
Just like that, Hong Kong's last remaining bastion of political dissent has been crushed by a swift stomp of the CCP jackboot.
NOV 11, 2020 6:22 AM
Rabobank's assessment: USA vs. China - Game Over 
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rabobank-game-over-man-game-over
Moreover, we argued “we can expect a further significant deterioration in US-China relations.” This looks to be arriving – and yet it is not an area where the market seems willing to play fast-forward…for the moment.
For example, from the US side President Trump openly says he is “not happy” with China and is threatening unspecified “consequences” if evidence emerges that Beijing was complicit in allowing COVID-19 to spread internationally. Even meeker voices such as the UK and Australia are demanding transparency on this front – and bolder ones, like the Henry Jackson Society, have posited that China could be liable for USD trillions in damages. Indeed, as we enter the 2020 US election run-up we also have Trump dubbing his likely Democratic challenger as “Beijing Biden”, while Biden is attacking Trump as having been duped by China’s leaders in allowing COVID-19 to spread. None of this bodes well for future US-China relations – or what parts of the “Phase One Trade Deal” will remain once the dust settles.
Meanwhile, from the Chinese side we have seen aggressive “Wolf Warrior” rhetoric from Chinese diplomats, which has ruffled feathers globally. There have been widespread reports of discriminatory actions targeting foreigners in China, who are now seen as potential virus carriers: this has led to official protests from some African states, for example. Moreover, last week saw a slew of actions in Hong Kong, which has obviously slipped from global focus this year compared to last.
First, China’s liaison office (the de facto embassy) accused opposition law-makers of “malicious filibustering”, suggesting they should be dismissed from office for breach of oath; Reuters reported three anonymous senior judges had told them that judicial independence and rule of law are under threat from Beijing interference – a claim rebutted by Hong Kong and Chinese officials; the liaison office then openly lobbied for the rapid passage of new national security legislation to “prevent foreign interference” and prohibit “treason, secession, sedition, and subversion” against Beijing, which Hong Kong CEO Carrie Lam partly echoed; the same office then announced it is not bound by Article 22 of the Basic Law, which states mainland agencies cannot interfere with Hong Kong’s autonomy – again Lam demurred; and this weekend saw the arrest of 15 high-profile pro-democracy politicians, advocates, and activists in Hong Kong for partaking in illegal protests last year. This last step has drawn international condemnation and recent developments have worrying potential implications for the annual review the US undertakes on Hong Kong’s autonomous status. (And, again, Biden is attacking Trump for being too soft on China in this area.)
One other recent action in China also speaks volumes. Taiwanese media reports that China is to ban online gamers from interacting with foreigners. (Note this is a massive industry where China is the world’s largest single market). What is a vast informal channel of communication between China and the outside world is apparently to be severed. Moreover, the report also claims that online games will be monitored at all times and can no longer contain plagues, zombies, map-editing, role-playing, or any in-game group organizations, clans, or unions. Does this all speak to far larger Great Game playing out?
Of course, one can easily be distracted when China slashes its benchmark lending rate 20bp from 4.05% to 3.85% (for 1-year loans), which underlines that it is not recovering as well as it wishes to project, and yet is still far, far less stimulus than we are seeing elsewhere. Equally, one can be dragged aside by reports that the ECB is pushing for the establishment of a ‘bad bank’ in the Eurozone to suck up non-performing loans – which Brussels apparently does not want to see. Let’s also not forget chatter that the US might have to start using yield curve control policies to keep T-bill yields where they want them to be as issuance soars – which would be a further nail in the coffin for capital markets as actual markets rather than political liquidity channels, something we have long suggested would be logically congruent to MMT. Naturally we should also not overlook that West Texas Intermediate oil dipped below USD15 per barrel on Monday morning, a 21-year low.
However, if we really are seeing 'game over' for US-China relations post-COVID then at some point markets are going to go into fast-forward again... and this time they can’t bully the Fed into cutting rates to zero because we are already there.
it's convinient to do this now. I certainly am not watching anything but Covid news
Stiggs:
@Scandi yep, I wonder what else is going on under the radar while everyone is looking the other way. A dodgy law or two here, a bit of ethnic cleansing there..
philbravery:
Dredging waterways to give an invasion fleet clear passage?
Sandnose:
What? Is the couf still a thing? I thought it was over since potato Joe looks like winning.
Just like that, Hong Kong's last remaining bastion of political dissent has been crushed by a swift stomp of the CCP jackboot.
NOV 11, 2020 6:22 AM
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hong-kong-activists-joshua-wong-a...
Hong Kong Activists Joshua Wong & Agnes Chow Jailed For Defying Beijing
Wed, 12/02/2020 - 07:02
Wong on Wednesday was sentenced to 13.5 months in jail, while Chow was given 10 months.
In the latest act of repression from the Hong Kong government, which recently presided over the expulsion of pro-democracy 'opposition' lawmakers from its Legislative Council, activists Agnes Chow and Joshua Wong have been sentenced to prison time for their roles in the 2019 pro-democracy movement.
Wong on Wednesday was sentenced to 13.5 months in jail, while Chow was given 10 months. The former student leaders, along with another activist named Ivan Lam, who also received a short prison sentenced, pleaded guilty last week to charges related to a protest on June 21, 2019, just one of dozens of chaotic street protests/skirmishes between demonstrators and the HK Police.
They stood accused of organizing, taking part in and inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly. They had faced maximum sentences of five years.
Wong also faced other protest-related charges tied to "unauthorized" assemblies in October 2019 and on June 4, 2020, when Hong Kongers gathered to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, officially known in China as "the June 4th incident".
Chow is also accused of inciting secession, a charge under the new national security law, which could lead to her extradition to mainland China to face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The 23-year-old who turns 24 on Thursday told friends visiting the detention center that she was "prepared" to go to prison for the first time, although she was "a bit worried" and disappointed she wouldn't get to celebrate her birthday with family.
Before a hearing on Monday, Wong, who first came to international prominence for his role in the 2014 Umbrella movement demanding universal suffrage in the city-state, vowed to continue his activism despite the "political suppression" he faced under Hong Kong authorities, and the Beijing-imposed 'national security' law that was effectively bolted on to Hong Kong's constitution (known as the "Basic Law") by the CCP earlier this year.
For Wong, this will be his third jail term in 4 years.
"I want to be frank that, in the face of uncertainties, I just feel uneasy and anxious," Wong wrote in an open letter penned during his detention. "However, as I said when I stepped into the dock in the courtroom, 'Hang in everyone, I know the situation that the people outside face will be more difficult. Keep fighting.'"
Wong also called attention to the plight of 12 Hong Kong activists who were arrested this past summer and detained in mainland China after attempting to flee to Taiwan by boat.
icnif77:
https://www.rt.com/news/508431-joshua-wong-pleaded-guilty/
Activist Joshua Wong was jailed for 13-and-a-half months on Wednesday by a Hong Kong court for his role in last year’s riots in the city.
Last month, Wong pleaded guilty to organizing and inciting an unauthorized assembly outside a police station during 2019’s anti-government protests. As the offenses had taken place before China implemented its new national security law, he was only facing up to five years in prison, avoiding a potential life sentence.
Wong’s associates Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam were jailed alongside him for 10 and seven months respectively, after also pleading guilty to charges related to the same unlawful assembly.
Wong and Lam were previously jailed for their role in pro-democracy protests. Chow is facing further charges under the national security law, accused of colluding with foreign forces, which, if she is found guilty, could carry a life sentence.
Around 100 supporters had gathered in the court ahead of the sentencing, while a group of pro-Beijing protesters rallied outside the building, calling on the judge to hand down a long prison term.
Sentencing the group, Magistrate Wong Sze-lai said:
“The defendants called on protesters to besiege the headquarters and chanted slogans that undermine the police force. Immediate imprisonment is the only appropriate option."
As he was escorted out of the court, Wong shouted to his supporters: “The days ahead will be tough but we will hang in there.”
Following the sentencing, Human Rights Group condemned the jail term, describing it as both heartbreaking and outrageous.”Beijing has rejected the criticism that it’s faced, accusing Wong and his associates of being the ‘black hand’ of foreign forces, arguing that the sentences and its new national security law are required to restore stability.
icnif77:
https://news.yahoo.com/155-mps-write-carrie-lam-112302430.html
The Telegraph
155 MPs write to Carrie Lam, asking her to advocate for better rights for the "Hong Kong 12"
An international coalition of more than 150 parliamentarians has urged Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, to guarantee a fair legal process for 12 young people who were detained in China in August after allegedly trying to flee the former British colony to reach Taiwan by sea.
The open letter issued on Tuesday by 155 politicians from the UK, US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Myanmar and multiple European nations adds weight to a global campaign that has sprung up since the so-called “Hong Kong 12” were intercepted by the Chinese coastguard and jailed in the mainland city of Shenzhen. They were facing accusations of illegally crossing the border between Hong Kong and China.
The group had tried to escape Hong Kong by speedboat, fearing political persecution amid an ongoing crackdown on pro-democracy activists and the introduction in June of a draconian national security law.
The law punishes broadly defined crimes such as “secession” with up to life in prison.
Beijing imposed the law to curb year-long anti-government protests.
Hong Kong's Security Bureau has said all 12 were suspected of committing crimes including manufacturing or possessing explosives, arson and rioting in Hong Kong. The group consists of unnamed individuals aged 16 to 33.
Signatories to the letter, who include Tom Tugendhat, the Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, and fellow MPs Iain Duncan Smith, Damian Green, Hilary Benn and John McDonnell, have appealed to Ms Lam to intervene to bring the group back to Hong Kong to face trial in local courts.
Further requests include ensuring the right of the activists to nominate their own legal representatives, have contact with their families and be allowed access to prescribed medication.
Human rights groups and lawyers fear the 12 are at risk of torture and injustice if they disappear into China’s notoriously opaque justice system.
“This is a watershed case for Hong Kong, which will influence whether the extradition of pro-democracy activists to stand trial in the mainland becomes a common occurrence,” said Benedict Rogers, chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, the London-based advocacy group that organised the letter.
Families of the activists have issued their own emotional appeals for their safe return.
In a joint statement last week they revealed they had heard for the first time from their loved ones in formulaic letters claiming they were being well treated.
"It is doubtful that they wrote the letter out of their own free will," it said.
Former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui says his bank accounts frozen
Former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui said on Sunday his local bank accounts appeared to have been frozen after fled to Britain with his family to continue his pro-democracy activities.
DECEMBER 6, 2020 8:20AM EST
Hui told Reuters via social media WhatsApp that bank accounts belonging to him, his wife and his parents at Bank of China Hong Kong, HSBC and Hang Seng Bank were frozen. He gave no further details.
Democracy activists say conditions have worsened in the former British colony after China imposed security legislation on the financial hub in June, making anything Beijing regards as subversion, secession, terrorism or colluding with foreign forces punishable by up to life in prison.
China, which promises Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, denies curbing rights and freedoms, but authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing have moved swiftly to quash dissent after anti-government protests erupted last year and engulfed the city.
Local media reported that at least five accounts worth hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars belonging to Hui and his family had been inaccessible since Saturday.
Hui contacted the banks and was told there were “remarks” placed on his accounts, but the staff refused to provide further information, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported.
“We do not comment on the details of individual accounts,” a Hang Seng Bank spokesman told Reuters by email. HSBC and Bank of China did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hong Kong police said late on Sunday that they were investigating a Hong Kong person, who had absconded overseas with bank accounts being frozen, for suspected money laundering and possible violation of the new national security law.
It was not immediately clear who police were referring to.
Hui said on Thursday he had fled Hong Kong after facing criminal charges and would seek exile in Britain.
One of the pro-democracy activists arrested last month and charged with disturbing legislature proceedings, Hui arrived in Copenhagen last week on an invitation from Danish lawmakers.
Hong Kong’s Security Bureau issued a statement on Friday that, while not naming Hui, said “running away by jumping bail and using various excuses such as so-called ‘exile’ to avoid one’s responsibility is a shameful, hypocritical and cowardly act of recoil”.
Hui was one of several opposition lawmakers who quit Hong Kong’s Legislative Council last month in protest at the dismissal of four colleagues in what they called another push by Beijing to suppress democracy in the city.
icnif77:
https://news.yahoo.com/uk-reportedly-granting-record-5-170941091.html?_guc_consent_skip=1607277988
The UK is reportedly granting a record '5 passports a minute' to Hong Kong residents
*The UK Passport Office has issued a record number of British National (Overseas) passports to residents of Hong Kong this year, says a Bloomberg News report.
*With about 200,000 such passports issued in the first 10 months of the year, they're being issued at a rate of about five a minute, the report said.
*A representative of China's Foreign Ministry accused Britain of violating its commitments to the international community.
The number of passports issued to Hongkongers so far this year is shy of the total 3 million offered by the UK's prime minister, Boris Johnson, who announced the country would issue the passports in July. China responded by threatening to stop recognizing BN(O) passports.
Hong Kong Arrests 8 More Pro-Democracy Activists As Opposition Crackdown Intensifies
Beijing has made it clear: Hong Kong is no longer safe for those who assiduously supported the pro-democracy movement.
Tue, 12/08/2020 - 10:29
As Britain processes hundreds of visa applications for Hong Kongers seeking to flee the territory now that Beijing has extinguished its Democratic freedoms, local police on Tuesday continued their roundup of top opposition officials after sentencing two former student activists to brief prison terms and denying bail to one of the island's most visible media moguls.
Hong Kong police arrested eight more activists on Tuesday over an anti-government protest in July, the latest move by authorities in a relentless crackdown on opposition forces in the Chinese-ruled city. Meanwhile, at least one former opposition lawmaker from Hong Kong's LegCo - all 19 opposition lawmakers quit en masse last month - has fled to Europe and been granted asylum in the UK, a move that will likely infuriate Beijing.
Perhaps in an attempt to prevent anybody else from running off, Beijing is rounding up and arresting activists left and right. On Tuesday morning in Hong Kong, it was reported that police had arrested another 8 activities between the ages of 24 and 64. One day earlier, police arrested 8 activists said to be between the ages of 16 and 36. None of their names were released.
The latest activists were charged with participating in a skirmish with police on July 1, the anniversary of the colony's handover to China from the UK. More than 300 people were arrested during the demonstration. Participants were protesting the new national security law, which had just been approved by top CCP leaders in Beijing and signed by President Xi.
Here's more from Reuters:
Hong Kong police arrested eight more activists on Tuesday over an anti-government protest in July, the latest move by authorities in a relentless crackdown on opposition forces in the Chinese-ruled city.
The police did not identify the people, saying only that they were aged between 24 and 64. Local media said former pro-democracy lawmaker and veteran activist Leung Kwok-hung, known as Long Hair, was among those arrested.
The move comes a day after eight people aged between 16 and 34 were arrested, including three on suspicion of violating a sweeping national security law, over a brief demonstration at a university campus last month.
Hong Kong police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters on July 1, the anniversary of the former British colony’s handover to Chinese rule, as thousands demonstrated despite a police ban on the annual protest.
In an attempt to discourage Beijing from robbing Hong Kongers of their democratic feedoms and closing a long time "gateway to the West", the Trump Administration slapped new sanctions and travel restrictions on 14 CCP officials believed to be responsible. The Trump Administration also recently stopped issuing visas longer than 1 month for any known members of the CCP trying to visit the US.
Still, Beijing is doing a pretty good job of making it clear that Hong Kong is no longer safe for those who assiduously supported the pro-democracy movement.
China Arrests US Lawyer During "Massive Crackdown" In Hong Kong
China's unrestrained aggression, using the National Security Law pretext to crack down on anyone, just crossed a thick red line when Hong Kong Police arrested a US Citizen.
WED JAN 6, AT 5:18 AM
Update 11:00pm ET: In what would be a shocking development, Bloomberg reports that during its "massive crackdown" purging countless local activists and politicians, the Hong Kong police - i.e. China - has arrested American Lawyer, John Clancey, using as a pretext the National Security Law, which everyone warned China would use as strawman to crack down on Hong Kong citizens and activists. Well, it now appears that the emboldened Beijing - which is delighted by the ascent of pro-China pushover Joe Biden to the White House - is also using that law to arrest American citizens.
- H.K. ARRESTS AMERICAN LAWYER JOHN CLANCEY, COLLEAGUE SAYS
- CLANCEY ARRESTED UNDER NATIONAL SECURITY LAW: COLLEAGUE
In response, Biden's nominee for Secretary of State Anthony Blinken sent out a harshly worded tweet, warning China that the "Biden-Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijing’s crackdown on democracy."
The sweeping arrests of pro-democracy demonstrators are an assault on those bravely advocating for universal rights. The Biden-Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijing’s crackdown on democracy. https://t.co/nSj8dr3OEg
— Antony Blinken (@ABlinken) January 6, 2021
We eagerly await to see just what the Blinken Biden administration will do, besides tweeting angrily in China's general direction, to secure release of an American citizen unjustly arrested by Chinese proxies in Hong Kong.
* * *
Earlier: "Massive Crackdown": Hong Kong Police Arrest Dozens Of Politicians & Activists
2021 is less than a week old and already Beijing is ramping up its efforts to suppress what's left of the pro-democracy opposition in Hong Kong. Right now, China hawks are preoccupied right now by a number of issues: the disappearance of Jack Ma (note: CNBC claims the Alibaba founder is just "laying low"), Beijing's refusal to allow international investigators inside the Wuhan Institue of Virology and, finally, the CCP's abusive treatment of China's Uyghur Muslim minority.
Now, less than two months after the last 19 members of the HK LegCo's pro-democracy opposition quit en masse over Beijing's demands that they swear a loyalty oath to uphold the new national security law and the supremacy of the CCP, Hong Kong police have rounded up dozens of pro-democracy activists. The arrests - described by western journalists as a "massive crackdown" - essentially confirm what many feared: all pro-democracy activists who haven't escaped Hong Kong will likely face arrest and imprisonment.
According to various media reports, police are rounding up dozens of pro-democracy politicians and activists.
Massive crackdown underway in Hong Kong.
— Jillian Kay Melchior (@JillianKayM) January 6, 2021
With at least two student leaders - including Joshua Wong - already heading to prison, Wednesday's arrests mark the biggest crackdown under the new national security law, according to the NYT, one former opposition lawmaker was participating in a live video chat when he got the knock at the door.
A twitter account run by Wong's supporters claimed that his house was raided during the sweep with the arrests.
#BREAKING Police also raided Joshua’s home for allegedly violating the national security law this morning as he took part in the primary election last year. 50+ democratic activists were arrested.
— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 ???? (@joshuawongcf) January 6, 2021
Another six former LegCo members were among those who were arrested.
The alleged offenses also underscored government officials’ efforts to weaken any meaningful opposition in the city’s political institutions. Among those arrested were at least six former Legislative Council members, a number of district councilors — a hyperlocal elected position dominated by pro-democracy figures — and several activists. They included figures who had called for aggressive confrontation with the authorities and those who had supported more moderate tactics.
According to social media pages belonging to some of those arrested, the activists were accused of trying to "subvert state power". The charges were tied to their participation in the informal LegCo vote held over the summer.
An informal primary election for the LegCo held in July delivered an uncomfortably large margin of victory to the pro-Democracy candidates. It's widely believed this vote deeply bothered Beijing, possibly prompting it to accelerate its crackdown on HK, which once functioned as a that once functioned as an autonomous city state. With its political independence now in tatters, any pro-democracy activists who haven't already left the city will probably be on the next train or plane out - unless they're detained first.
But an even bigger question: With Beijing's crackdowns growing increasingly brazen, how will American institutions like the NBA continue to justify doing business in China?
*HONG KONG EX-LAWMAKERS ARRESTED UNDER NATIONAL SECURITY LAW
Beijing will have to double its payments to the NBA to keep this under wraps
