📡Guardians of Hong Kong aka BeWater HK
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We provide translation of news in English from local media and other sources, for academic use.
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#Interview
#ChrisPatten on How #CCP Changed #HongKong: "They’ve broken their word, as I’m afraid they do regularly"

The last UK governor of Hong Kong, #lChris Patten, blames the #ChineseCommunistParty for the city's malaise.

Patten, 78, who holds the title Baron Patten of Barnes and serves as chancellor of the #UniversityofOxford, spoke the Amelia Loi of RFA Cantonese about the changes in Hong Kong as the July 1 25th anniversary of the #handover approaches.

In the interview, Patten was asked to assess the changes in Hong Kong in the 25 years since the handove. Patten said, "Hong Kong was an exceptionally successful community ––the eighth largest trading community in the world and we never had the sort of demonstrations which have affected Hong Kong in the last few years. I had very much hoped it would continue as long as possible and the Chinese had promised that it would continue for 50 years. They’ve broken their word, as I’m afraid they do regularly. They break their word. They break international treaties whenever it suits them. And I think that’s happening again this time."

Patten also said, "the fact that the independence movement has grown in Hong Kong is an indication of how badly China has behaved and how little people actually trust China today. It’s an extraordinary thing that so few people are actually proud of Hong Kong being part of China now. There’s a great sense of Hong Kong citizenship, and there’s a great sense that people are Hong Kongers but only a small number think of themselves as Chinese."

Read the full interview:
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/hongkong-patten-06262022085742.html

Source: RFA #Jun26
Illustration: #RebelPepper
#FirstHand #Jun30
Hong Kong Authorities Seal Off Wanchai North to 'welcome' Xi Jinping


Since June 29, 2022, Hong Kong police sealed off a large area completely including car ways and pavements in Wanchai North, to prepare for the arrival of the Chinese Communist Party (#CCP) leader #XiJinPing. From the midnight of June 30, the Exhibition and Convention Center station will also be closed.

On July 1, Xi will be present at the Exhibition and Convention Center to observe the ceremony celebrating the establishment day of the Hong Kong SAR and the officiation of the new Chief Executive.

On the eve of July 1, Hong Kong police sent in the anti-terrorism squad to patrol the area in their new uniform. Police dogs were also deployed. Reporters on the flyover were stopped and searched for 4 times.

During Xi's visit to Hong Kong, the metro will not stop at the
Exhibition and Convention Center station until 2pm on July 1. Buses will also be rerouted.

It was reported that some pro-democracy groups like the League of Social Democrats were warned by the authorities of the consequence of carrying out protests on the day.

#PoliceState #FailedState #Authoritarianism #Suppression #Handover
#NationalSecurityPolice in Hong Kong Demands Pro-democracy Groups to Cancel Protest on #HandoverAnniversary

On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the handover, chairperson Chan Po-ying, of the pro-democracy group League of Social Democrats (#LSD), released a statement. She said some volunteers working for thr group were visited by the national security police. The friends of these volunteers have also become the target of the police. After evaluating the situation, the group decide not to pursue any protest on the day.

Meanwhile, #AveryNg, a core member of the grouo who was recently released from the prison, was reportedly under the police surveilance. Ng posted the sentence "I'm in prison, if you know what I mean" on his social media page. Many associated the incident to how the Chinese police surveyed and monitored dissidents like Lu Xia before important days.

This time in Hong Konh Ng commented on his own post by saying, "I'm not being detained" and "I will be happy in the 'prison'."

Source: Mingpao; whatsapp news #Jube29

https://link.mingpao.com/74403.htm

https://www.whatsnewsmedia.com/9685/22/50/22/

#PoliceState #FailedState #Authoritarianism #Suppression #Handover
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Chinese Communist Leader VS British Royal Visits to Hong Kong

On June 30, 2022, Chinese Communist party (#CCP) leader #XiJinping visited Hong Kong on the 25th aaniversary of the transfer of soveignty of Hong Kong. He was received by officials of the Hong Kong SAR and the so-called "citizens representatives". Meanwhile, roads were blocked around "important locations", and a massive number of police were deployed. July 1 also marks two year since Beijing's enforcement of the #NationalSecurityLaw in Hong Kong.

This is very different from even the British royal visits to Hong Kong before 1997, as shown in the RFA video.

Source: #RFA #Jun30

#Handover #PoliceState
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#Solidarity #FightForFreedom
#Hongkongers in #Japan Call for International Support through Video

Hongkongers in Japan displayed a video in support of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement in the center of #Shibuya in #Tokyo.

The day #July1 marks the 25th anniversary of the transfer of soveignty of Hong Kong from Britain to China and two years since Beijing's enforcement of the #NationalSecurityLaw in Hong Kong

Reference:
https://twitter.com/williamleewt/status/1542817913107021825

#Handover #FreeHongKong
#Solidarity
#HongKongDiaspora Fights from Abroad

//Hongkongers living in Japan are trying to protect freedoms in the territory they left behind.// 

Watch the video here:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/videos/20220701204909434/

Source: NHK #Jul1

#Handover #FightForFreedom #Hongkongers #Japan
Today's Hong Kong, Tomorrow's Taiwan? #Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council: Refuse "One Country Two Systems"

[Editor note: July 1st is the Establishment Day of the Hong Kong SAR, noting the change in Hong Kong's sovereignty from a British colony to a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC since the 1997 handover.]

2022 marks 25 years since the sovereignty over Hong Kong was trasferred from Britain to the #PRC.

The Taiwan government reiterates their refusal of "#OneCountryTwoSystems". Since the #AntiELAB movement in Hong Kong in 2019, Taiwanese people has become more concerned about the happenings in Hong Kong.

How do Taiwanese people see the current situation in Hong Kong? How would they comment on the so-called "unchanging state" promised by the PRC to Hong Kong for 50 years? Are they worried?

#RFA interviewed a few Taiwanese on the 25th anniversary of the change of Hong Kong's sovereignty.

Many people analogise "Today's Hong Kong, Tomorrow's Taiwan" in recent years. One of the interviewees mentioned the change in Hong Kong in these 25 years -- Hong Kong was very vigorous in the media and the publishing industries. She mentioned that Taiwanese sought Hong Kong publishers to produce their "blacklisted books" during the white terror era, but now it is the opposite. She said the so-called unchsnging state is a lie for the regime to deceive people.

Source: RFA #July01
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/htm/tw-71reax-07012022062344.html

#EstablishmentDay #Taiwan #TransferralofSovereignty #Handover #censorship
25th Anniversary of the Transferral of Hong Kong's Sovereignty: "Huge fallback of democracy"

In 2022, the sovereignty over Hong Kong has been transferred from Britain to the PRC for 25 years but with no plans for universal suffrage. The currrent electoral system is a "huge fallback of democracy".

With the enactment of Hong Kong National Security Law (#NSL) since 2020, the #CentralGovernment largely changed Hong Kong's electoral system, as the city's #LegislativeCouncil (#LegCo) no longer has an opposite voice.

With the enormous change in the political system and the environment in Hong Kong, what hapened to the promise of "High Degree of Autonomy" and "Hong Kong ruled by Hong Kong people"?

"When I was in Hong Kong, I saved my diary for the first time in my life. I hope it can be the evidence of Hong Kong being a British colony with a democratic society." said former and the last Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten.

Hong Kong once experienced a higher level of democracy and more freedom. However, the circumstances have changed a lot in the last 25 years. The promise of a "real universal suffrage" has never been fulfilled. Worse still, the electoral system had been changed.

Source: RFA #July01
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/features/hottopic/feature-71-07012022024423.html

#HighDegreeofAutonomy #ChrisPatten #ElectoralSystem #Handover
#HongKong Government publishes "correct" view of Hong Kong #History, claims 1997 was not a "#handover"

In the name of reforming the secondary school curriculum, the Hong Kong government had replaced Liberal Studies with “Civic and Social Development”. The textbook content has also been changed to explicitly state that Hong Kong was never a British colony.

In an article uploaded to its website on August 2, 2022, the Education Bureau (#EDB) explained the government's official version of history, saying that the ceremony on 1st July 1997 was not a “handover of Hong Kong” but a “transfer of sovereignty”. The education bureau argues that denying Hong Kong being a former British colony doesn’t mean it rejects Hong Kong’s history of being occupied by Britain, but stresses that the word “colony” was inappropriate.

The 1,500-word article is available in Chinese only.

Source: In-Media #Aug02
https://bit.ly/3OMSxRr

#Education #CCP #EducationBureau #BritishColony #NationalSecurityEducation #RewritingHistory