Latest news with #PaulLamTing-kwok
South China Morning Post
02-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Once again, pointless sanctions are imposed on Hong Kong by America
It's hard to fathom what Washington hopes to gain realistically by sanctioning six more senior Hong Kong officials. But US vindictiveness knows no bounds. The United States is still smarting over its inability to exploit Hong Kong as an international hub for foreign espionage and interference after the introduction of the national security law. Advertisement Its latest local victims? Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok and retired police commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee; Sonny Au Chi-kwong, secretary general of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong; Dong Jingwei, director of Beijing's Office for Safeguarding National Security in the city; and assistant police commissioners Dick Wong Chung-chun and Margaret Chiu Wing-lan. Their crimes? For enforcing the law – sorry, in the words of the US State Department, for 'undermining Hong Kong's autonomy' and carrying out 'acts of transnational repression'. There is no international treaty guaranteeing 'Hong Kong's autonomy' as a Chinese city, so it's hard to see what the US means by 'contravention of China's commitments'. Perhaps the US is referring to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a bilateral treaty between those two countries where 'a high degree of autonomy' is promised. But how high or low? Presumably that's something for the two sides who actually signed the treaty to decide. Advertisement Funny, though, that Washington thinks it can interject in any international treaty in which it took no part. But if so, the principle of reciprocity ought to apply for other countries. Perhaps China and the rest of the world should take action against any US breaches of international treaties. There have been breaches of Washington's joint trade treaty with Mexico and Canada, its obligations under the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization, and its unilateral undermining of a multinational agreement to limit Iran's nuclear development. The list is long.
South China Morning Post
01-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Beijing vows retaliation over new round of US sanctions on officials in Hong Kong
Beijing has vowed to retaliate against the United States for sanctioning six officials, including Hong Kong's justice secretary and outgoing police chief, over the 'transnational repression' of opposition activists under national security legislation Advertisement The Hong Kong government and China's foreign affairs arm in the city on Tuesday both condemned the latest round of US sanctions, while defending Hong Kong's use of national security legislation to pursue 19 activists overseas, including an American citizen and another four of the country's residents. 'The so-called 'sanctions' from the US have once again exposed its ulterior motive to damage Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, as well as suppress China's development,' a spokesman for the Commissioner's Office of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong said. 'China must take effective measures to resolutely retaliate.' The US earlier announced its second round of sanctions against officials in Hong Kong, five years after Washington imposed economic sanctions on 11 local and mainland Chinese officials over the Beijing-imposed national security law. Advertisement The latest officials to be sanctioned include Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok and Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee, who is expected to retire after his term expires on Tuesday.
South China Morning Post
01-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Beijing vows retaliation over second round of US sanctions on Hong Kong officials
Central and local authorities have slammed the United States for sanctioning Hong Kong's justice secretary, outgoing police chief and four other officials over 'transnational repression' under the city's national security legislation , with Beijing vowing to retaliate. Advertisement The Commissioner's Office of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong and the city government on Tuesday condemned the latest round of US sanctions, while defending Hong Kong's use of its national security legislation to pursue 19 activists overseas, including an American citizen and another four of the country's residents. 'The so-called 'sanctions' from the US have once again exposed its ulterior motive to damage Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, as well as suppress China's development,' a spokesman for the country's foreign affairs arm in Hong Kong said. 'China must take effective measures to resolutely retaliate.' The US earlier announced its second round of sanctions against officials in Hong Kong, five years after Washington imposed economic sanctions on 11 local and mainland Chinese officials over the Beijing-imposed national security law. Advertisement The latest officials to be sanctioned include Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok and Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee, who is expected to retire after his term expires on Tuesday.
South China Morning Post
17-02-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong to keep ‘one country, two systems' model indefinitely, minister says
Hong Kong's justice minister has reassured investors that the city will be governed by the 'one country, two systems' principle and keep its common law system indefinitely, as he seeks further legal cooperation with Asean jurisdictions. Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok also said on Monday that Hong Kong would host the 15th China-Asean Prosecutors-General Conference in September in a move backed by Beijing. Speaking at a fireside chat at the South China Morning Post's China Conference: Southeast Asia 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, the minister said it was natural to ask whether Hong Kong's current system would continue after 2047, given the city's capitalist system and way of life were expected to remain unchanged for 50 years under its mini-constitution, the Basic Law. But Lam cited a speech from Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hong Kong in 2022 as he discussed the continuity of the one country, two systems governing principle. At the time, Xi said there was 'no reason to change such a good system' and 'it must be adhered to in the long run'. 'I think it's a very clear answer to dispel any possible misgivings that the principle of one country, two systems will change after 2047,' Lam said. Lam has stressed that the city's Basic Law system is here to stay. Photo: Sam Tsang
