Hong Kong independence activist Andy Chan (陳浩天) yesterday attacked China as an empire trying to “annex” and “destroy” the territory in a no-holds barred speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, which Beijing wanted cancelled.
Chan, who leads the tiny Hong Kong National Party, said Beijing was semi-autonomous Hong Kong’s “colonial master.”
“We are a nation that is quickly being annexed and destroyed by China,” Chan told a packed audience.
Photo: AFP
He said he had been under increased “surveillance” by groups of people that he did not know, who had been following him and knocking on his family’s door to take pictures of them in the lead-up to the speech.
Hong Kong enjoys freedom of speech and assembly unseen on the mainland under a handover agreement between Britain and China, but Beijing has become increasingly intolerant of any mention of independence for Hong Kong as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) emphasizes territorial integrity as key to China’s resurgence.
Rival protesters gathered outside the FCC, with pro-independence activists clashing with police, saying they had been given no space for their rally, while dozens of pro-Beijing supporters chanted slogans including “Gas the spies!”
The lunch address — titled Hong Kong Nationalism: A Politically Incorrect Guide to Hong Kong under Chinese Rule — drew objections from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs ministry and Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥), as fears grow that freedom of speech in the territory is increasingly under attack.
The club stood by its decision to go ahead with the event, saying that the views of different sides in any debate must be heard.
Chan called on Britain and the US to help Hong Kong, and said Taiwan was an inspiration for his party as it had gone from a dictatorship to a democracy.
The Hong Kong government yesterday said that advocating independence contravened the territory’s Basic Law.
“It is totally inappropriate and unacceptable for any person to openly promote and advocate the independence of Hong Kong,” a spokesman said. “As such, it is inappropriate and unacceptable for any organization to provide a public platform to espouse such views.”
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS