Latest news with #Article23
RTHK
2 days ago
- Politics
- RTHK
CE welcomes appointment of Zhou Ji
CE welcomes appointment of Zhou Ji John Lee welcomes the appointment of Zhou Ji as the new director of Beijing's liaison office here, noting his wealth of experience and knowledge of national policies on Hong Kong. File photo: AFP Chief Executive John Lee on Friday welcomed the appointment of Zhou Ji as the new head of Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong, expressing confidence that he will lead the office in continuing its support to the SAR. In a statement, Lee also thanked departing liaison office director Zheng Yanxiong for his contributions to the city, noting that he had fully supported the city's government in fulfilling its historic mission of enacting local national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law during his two-year tenure. The State Council had earlier announced that Zhou, 61, would replace Zheng as both the director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LOCPG) and as national security advisor of the SAR's Committee for Safeguarding National Security. Lee noted that Zhou is well acquainted with the national policies in Hong Kong, having served as the Executive Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council since July 2023. 'I am fully confident that Mr Zhou will lead the LOCPG in continuing its support to the HKSAR Government's governance in accordance with the law, working together with us in fully, faithfully and resolutely implementing the principles of 'one country, two systems', 'Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong' and a high degree of autonomy,' Lee said in the statement. 'I am also confident that Mr Zhou will lead the LOCPG in its continued co-operation with the HKSAR Government of promoting the HKSAR's proactive alignment with national strategies, creating new momentum and advantages for Hong Kong's economic development, promoting Hong Kong's transition from stability to prosperity through innovation and invention, and making greater contribution to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,' he added. Lee also expressed his deep gratitude to Zheng for steadfastly upholding the 'one country, two systems' principle on issues such as safeguarding national security and maintaining the city's constitutional order.
HKFP
3 days ago
- Politics
- HKFP
Hong Kong nat sec. police question 2 other relatives of wanted activist Joe Tay
Hong Kong national security police have brought in two other relatives of wanted activist Joe Tay for questioning – the second such occasion this month. Tay's cousin and her husband were brought to Tsing Yi Police Station for questioning on Thursday, local media reported. HKFP saw a man and a woman, both wearing caps and face masks, leave the police station in two private vehicles at around 11 am. In response to HKFP enquiries, police said its National Security Department interviewed two individuals on Thursday to 'assist in an investigation.' The case is still under investigation, and no arrests have been made so far, the force also said, without giving any details. Tay's other cousin and his wife were brought in by the police for questioning earlier this month. Tay, 62, currently based in Canada, is one of six overseas activists for whom police issued arrest warrants in December. He left Hong Kong in June 2020. Each wanted person has a HK$1 million bounty on their head for alleged national security violations. Tay is accused of incitement to secession and collusion with foreign forces. He allegedly operated a channel called 'HongKonger Station' between June 2020 and June 2024, where he published numerous videos to incite secession and called on foreign countries to impose sanctions on China and Hong Kong. Apart from Tay, 18 other overseas activists are wanted by the Hong Kong authorities, including former lawmakers Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok, and former student leader Nathan Law. Police have brought in a number of the activists' family members for questioning, including the parents of US-based activist Frances Hui. In early May, police charged Anna Kwok's father, Kwok Yin-sang, with attempting to handle financial assets of an 'absconder.' He is the first family member of a wanted activist to be charged under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, more commonly known as Article 23. The 68-year-old stands accused of breaching the domestic security law by attempting to obtain funds from an AIA International life and personal accident insurance policy, with Anna Kwok, based in the US, listed as the insured person. He was granted bail by the High Court last week after being denied bail at a lower court. Separate to the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects' access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city's opposition-free legislature.
Epoch Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Former District Councilor Arrested by National Security Police Booted From Stage Play by Government
Chan Kim-kam, a former Tsuen Wan district councilor who was arrested last year by Hong Kong police's National Security Department, She said authorities warned that the venue would not be rented out unless she was removed from the cast. Chan also revealed that the school where she had been teaching terminated her employment after receiving a complaint letter. Chan was arrested ahead of June 4, 2024, under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, commonly known as Article 23, and was subsequently released on bail. The National Security Bureau accused her and others of posting anonymously on a social media page, using the 'upcoming sensitive day,' meaning the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989, to incite netizens to organize or participate in illegal activities. In her May 18 post, Chan Kim-kam said government authorities reviewed the cast list for the upcoming stage performance, which was set to premiere in two weeks in a public venue. The theater group was told to replace a specific actor—referring to Chan—or risk having their previously approved venue booking revoked. She also said that a teaching job she had already started was abruptly terminated after the school received an anonymous complaint letter written in simplified Chinese. The dismissal was carried out without any appeals process or proper procedure, effectively ending her employment, according to Chan. Related Stories 5/6/2025 5/6/2025 The Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which is responsible for handling the rental of government venues, told Ming Pao newspaper that it manages all venue booking matters in accordance with existing booking procedures and rental terms and would not comment on individual bookings. Chan also wrote in her post that if these two incidents are dismissed by those in power as mere 'isolated cases,' the vulnerable individuals involved would be left to face unreasonable suppression alone and ultimately disappear from public view. She wrote that everyone labeled as 'sensitive' is being censored, rejected, isolated, pressured to leave, and made invisible. As a result, they are unable to pursue their passions or build a life—often struggle even to find work, which affects their very survival. She said, 'My voice may be weak and carry little weight, but I will not stay silent.' Other Venue Bookings Cancelled Other pro-democracy figures have also been denied access to rental venues for performances in Hong Kong. In January, what was supposed to be the 20th anniversary concert of singer-songwriter Pong Nan, originally scheduled to be held in the West Kowloon Cultural District, had its booking cancelled at the last minute. Nan had previously criticized artists who supported the Hong Kong government's crackdown during the 2019 democracy movement. Both the band Per Se and the Hong Kong Festival Orchestra were also originally scheduled to hold a concert at the Hong Kong City Hall in January, but received a notice from the City Hall that the hall needed to close for inspections and repairs, and the performance was eventually cancelled. A pro-communist website had published an article before the performance claiming that the orchestra belonged to the 'yellow camp,' meaning a group supporting the democratic movement, according to Ming Pao. The founder of the Hong Kong Festival Orchestra, Sean Li, has also been subjected to repeated accusations from pro-Beijing groups that he was the conductor and English lyricist of a version of the banned protest song 'Glory to Hong Kong,' reported the news outlet.
Straits Times
22-05-2025
- Straits Times
HK's national security law update brings China's Beijing office ‘out of the shadows'
On May 13, City Garden Hotel in the North Point district was designated a 'prohibited place' occupied by Beijing's Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong. SCREENGRAB: GOOGLE MAPS News analysis A HK hotel famed for S'pore food is now closed to the public. The reason: A national security law update HONG KONG – In front of a traffic junction in Hong Kong island's North Point district stands a nondescript building in white bearing the name 'City Garden Hotel'. For years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the hotel – owned by Singaporean tycoon Robert Ng's Sino Group – was a popular haunt among Singaporeans and Malaysians living in Hong Kong seeking an authentic taste of home at the Satay Inn restaurant housed within its basement. But now, both restaurant and hotel have closed their doors to the public; and the once-transparent floor-to-ceiling windows that punctuated the building's glossy black facade have been covered with frosted film, denying passers-by on the streets below any glimpse of what goes on inside. On May 13, City Garden Hotel was designated a 'prohibited place' occupied by Beijing's Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong. The designation is part of a series of new subsidiary laws that Hong Kong has enacted under its Article 23 national security legislation. The updates to Article 23 spell out more clearly the Beijing office's powers in exercising jurisdiction over national security cases in Hong Kong, essentially allowing it to operate more effectively and openly in the territory. They introduce six new offences to facilitate the work of Beijing's national security office in Hong Kong, and designate six sites occupied by the office as prohibited places to keep out spies. The new offences include giving the office false or misleading information and failing to keep secret its measures or investigations. They are punishable by jail terms of up to seven years and fines of as much as HK$500,000 (S$82,400). The prohibited sites comprise City Garden Hotel, Island Pacific Hotel in Sai Ying Pun, two Metropark hotels in Causeway Bay and Hung Hom, and two areas in Tai Kok Tsui at which Beijing's national security office will be built. Trespassers who disobey police guard orders or obstruct their duties at these places face up to two years' jail. Those found spying there, such as inspecting the sites in person or through the use of electronic devices, can be jailed for up to 20 years. City Garden and Island Pacific are owned by Mr Ng and his family's Hong Kong-listed property developer Sino Group. The Singaporean billionaire and three of his children were in April designated by the Singapore government as 'politically significant persons' under the nation's foreign interference law aimed at preventing foreign influence in domestic politics. Mr Ng and his children Daryl, David and Nikki are members of China's top political advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Sino Group did not respond to queries from The Straits Times. The two other hotels are owned by China's state-owned China Travel Service. The enactment of the new subsidiary laws to Article 23 came swiftly – barely a day after the proposal was disclosed and tabled in the Legislative Council (LegCo) on May 12. Bills typically have to be gazetted, or made known to the public, and then pass through three LegCo readings – which can vary from a day to more than a year – before they are enacted. But these new laws were passed through a so-called 'negative vetting' process that allowed for them to take effect before being reviewed by lawmakers. The legislature completed its scrutiny of the regulations two days after their enactment. Chief Executive John Lee said the legislation's swift enactment was 'imperative' to 'ensure legal certainty' and combat threats to Hong Kong amid growing global instability. Such threats 'are like viruses (that) always exist around us, poised to cause harm', Mr Lee told the media at his weekly press conference on May 20. Hong Kong's South China Morning Post cited a source familiar with the legislative agenda as saying that developments in the US-China tariff war on May 12 made it 'a prime window for Hong Kong to fast-track the legislation when the global news agenda was on the trade truce'. It would allow the move to escape foreign media attention and criticism. China and the United States agreed to slash reciprocal tariffs on each other that day. The US would be ' very unlikely' to impose new punitive measures against Hong Kong over the new laws during this period, the newspaper quoted the unnamed source as saying. At the presser, Mr Lee sought to assuage concerns that the update grants more powers to Beijing's national security office in Hong Kong. 'The subsidiary legislation does not grant new powers to the (office),' he said. 'It provides a clearer and more detailed description of the powers that already exist under the present law, thereby increasing legal certainty and precision.' A national security law was first imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing in June 2020 after mass anti-government protests in 2019. That allowed the mainland authorities to set up a national security office in the territory with the power to gather intelligence and enforce the law . This office can exercise jurisdiction over a national security case in Hong Kong under 'special circumstances', such as when it is 'complex' and involves foreign countries, if the local government is unable to do so itself, or in the face of a 'major and imminent threat'. Hong Kong later enacted its own complementary-but-broader legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city's mini-Constitution, in March 2024. Professor John Burns, from the University of Hong Kong's (HKU) politics and public administration department, said the updates to Article 23 are 'implementation rules to help officers from Beijing's national security office carry out their work in Hong Kong'. 'The office has been operating in the shadows. The new laws now make it more transparent, so that it can more directly and openly operate in Hong Kong,' he told ST. 'The new laws haven't added to the office's powers; it's already very powerful. But the laws clarify what the office can do and list them out specifically.' Professor Simon Young, a practising barrister and HKU law professor, said the regulations 'serve to normalise the mainland office as a Hong Kong law enforcement agency'. They do not signal whether the office is more likely to exercise jurisdiction over security cases in Hong Kong, Prof Young told ST , adding, however, that they ' do suggest that there will be closer cooperation between the mainland office and local law enforcement agencies to better protect national security'. At Mr Lee's May 20 presser, the Chief Executive skirted a reporter's question on how many staff were under the office's employ. Local media have previously reported that the City Garden and Island Pacific hotels were being used by the office for staff accommodation, while the Metropark Hotel in Causeway Bay has been its temporary headquarters since July 2020. Together, City Garden and Island Pacific provide 948 rooms for accommodation, while the two Metropark Hotels in Causeway Bay and Hung Hom have a combined 753 rooms. 'These figures indicate a significant increase in the number of personnel stationed in Hong Kong since the mainland office was initially established in 2020 ,' Prof Burns said. 'It brings to everyone's attention that a fairly large central government police force is operating in Hong Kong.' Magdalene Fung is The Straits Times' Hong Kong correspondent. She is a Singaporean who has spent about a decade living and working in Hong Kong. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
‘Unreasonable' tax audit of some Hong Kong media: Press union
Ms Selina Cheng, the HKJA's chair, said the association, herself and her parents were also impacted. PHOTO: AFP HONG KONG - At least five local media outlets in Hong Kong and multiple journalists had their taxes from years ago audited on 'unreasonable grounds', a press association said May 21. Hong Kong's press freedom ranking has plummeted since Beijing cracked down on dissent after huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019. The Hong Kong tax authorities alleged that a group of online outlets, reporters and some of their family members had failed to report their income from 2017 to 2019 in full. Backdated demands have been issued as a result, according to the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA). The association told reporters it believed the audits 'were not based on sufficient evidence or reasonable grounds.' The impacted media outlets listed by the HKJA include Hong Kong Free Press, Inmedia and The Witness, a news site focused on covering court cases, as well as two others. HKJA said the tax department had claimed back money for 'bizarre' reasons, including calculating non-existent income from before one of the outlets was founded. Ms Selina Cheng, the HKJA's chair and a former Wall Street Journal reporter, said the association, herself and her parents were also impacted. Hong Kong's Inland Revenue Department (IRD) said it followed the legal process and that its actions were not aimed at specific industries, according to local media. IRD added that it would not comment on 'individual cases'. Hong Kong journalists rated the city's press freedom lower than ever in an annual survey in 2024, citing fears around sweeping national security laws. More than 90 per cent of journalists surveyed said the city's press freedom was 'significantly' impacted by a domestic security law enacted in March 2024 that punishes crimes like espionage and foreign interference. Colloquially known as Article 23, it was the second such law enacted for the financial hub, following one imposed by Beijing in 2020 after the pro-democracy protests. China's foreign ministry said that Hong Kong's security laws 'target a very small number of individuals who severely endanger national security, not law-abiding media reporters'. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
