#Court #SwissNational
75-year-old Swiss Amateur Photographer Accused of Obstructing Pro-China Man from Leaving the Protest Scene

A 75-year-old Swiss amateur photographer Progin Marc Gerard, residing in Hong Kong for 43 years, was charged with “aiding and abetting acts of disorderly conduct in public places”.

He denied the charge in court on Sept 10, 2020, saying that he only went to the scene to take photographs of the protest activities.

It was on Oct 4, 2019, citizens participating in the “Lunch with you” protest in Central were disturbed by a Mandarin-speaking man who took close-up photos at the scene. The Chinese man claimed that the defendant moved forward to obstruct him from entering Chater House and he was latter assaulted by other citizens at the scene.

In court, Gerard defended himself and pointed out the scene was peaceful as there was no sight of police presence. It only became chaotic when the Mandarin-speaking man took photos of other citizens.

Source: Stand News #Sept11

#FreedomHouse Gives Annual #FreedomAward to All Pro-democracy #Hongkongers

Since 1943, Freedom House has been conferring awards to those who contributed tremendously to the fight for freedom, equality and justice. Past honorees include the 14th Dalai Lama, Winston Churchill and Martin Luther King Jr. among others.

In 2020, Freedom House gave the award to Hong Kong's Pro-Democracy Movement:

"As the Chinese government has heightened repression at home and expanded efforts to export its authoritarianism abroad, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement — a leaderless, people-led effort —has inspired the world. Two million people have turned out to stand together in defense of the rights and freedoms they are supposed to enjoy under Hong Kong law. Beijing’s sudden imposition of a repressive new national security law has made these efforts tremendously dangerous. Yet the people of Hong Kong remain committed to defending their rights for future generations in new and creative ways."

Source: Freedom House #Sept11

#ProtesterStory #Interview
Oldest protester in 2016 Mong Kok Civil Unrest released

Brother Sam received a hero’s welcome when he was released from prison. In this interview with Stand News, he shared his feelings about being a free man again and commented on the current state of the pro-democracy movement.

https://telegra.ph/Oldest-protester-in-2016-Mong-Kok-Civil-Unrest-released-09-10

#Newspaper

Chinese media's disclosure that Wuhan Pneumonia vaccine may increase severity retracted in less than a day

Source: Itn

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#Newspaper

Chinese media's disclosure that Wuhan Pneumonia vaccine may increase severity retracted in less than a day

(31 Aug) On 30 August, Yicai Media published a report titled "Exclusive evidence: COVID-19 vaccine may cause aggravated immune response". An anonymous expert from the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center told the media, "our latest study found that ADE [antibody-dependent enhancement] exists and its prevalence is not low. The results of relevant studies are awaiting publication."

The expert admitted, "COVID-19 presents a risk of ADE, which will be a challenge for the vaccine but it will depend on the specific antigen it uses." He also claimed that earlier this month, the Center for Drug Evaluation of the National Medical Products Administration released the "(Preliminary) Guidelines for the Clinical Evaluation of Prophylactic COVID-19 vaccination", which did not mention the risk of ADE in vaccines. The reality is that many countries have continually deliberated on the ADE issue in COVID-19. As of yet, no in-depth studies exist in the world. He is unsure if his team's findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals. The report from Yicai Media was deleted a day after [its publication].

ADE is the acronym for "antibody-dependent enhancement". The presence of ADE means that after inoculation, the immune response in a portion of the population would exacerbate the disease. As the second wave of the Wuhan Pneumonia sweeps the globe, a man from Reno*, Nevada in the US is re-infected with symptoms much worse than the first time. Although it is still uncertain whether the "ADE phenomenon" caused it, scientists warn that if the Wuhan Pneumonia virus produces ADE, the mortality risk of the second wave will be much higher.

Editor's Note:
* The original article incorrectly states that the man's name is Reno.

Source: Itn
Translated by: Hong Kong Echo

#ADE #ChineseVaccine #Coronavirus

#OpinionArticle
Beyond Authenticity: the Spectre of Han Hegemony

//It is hard not to see the Emperor’s protectiveness of the Silk Road in #Mulan as an echo of China’s Belt and Road scheme, often termed a New Silk Road to build their economic prosperity. The violence of Islamic-coded barbarians echoes modern Chinese propaganda about Islamic terrorism in #Xinjiang, which is being used to justify the existence of concentration camps.

//Modern China is built on the idea that the Han people should be and are the inheritors of the Qing empire. These colonial possessions, like Tibet, East Turkestan (aka Xinjiang) and Southern Mongolia, are argued to share with the Han people a “common historical destiny” (Chiang Kai-shek, 1947). Other empires may have attempted (however ineptly and inadequately) some form of de-colonisation in the 20th Century, but China’s successive regimes very much did not.

//The cultural genocide happening in Xinjiang today is part of a larger project by the Chinese government to force assimilation and cultural “harmony” across their empire. It can be seen the policies mandating the use Mandarin in schools, a policy that has sparked protests in Southern Mongolia.

Full article: Medium, (12-Sep)
https://link.medium.com/Fwu4wy1DH9

#Han #Mulan #BoycottMulan #Xinjiang

#Save12HKYouths #HumanitarianCrisis
China Spokesperson Calls 12 Hongkongers Secretly Detained by China "Elements attempting to separate Hong Kong from China"

Watch our billingual video recap: Detainees' families cry out for help
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2785685381652930&id=2406628919558580

Source: Stand News #Sept13

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https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/25250

#Save12HKYouths #HumanitarianCrisis
China Spokesperson Calls 12 Hongkongers Secretly Detained by China "Elements attempting to separate Hong Kong from China"

On Friday, Sept 11, 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed his deep concern over 12 Hong Kong democracy activists being held in China. Pompeo stressed that they have been denied access to lawyers and the Chinese authorities have not provided information on their welfare or the charges against them.

The families of the 12 Hongkongers met the press on Saturday.

Watch our billingual video recap:
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2785685381652930&id=2406628919558580

The relatives were tormented by the fact that they do not have news of their family members and that they cannot even know whether they are still alive. The relatives hoped the Hong Kong Government would seek their return and called for international attention to the legal and human rights violations in China.

One day after the statement made by the grieving families, the Chinese Central Government responded through Hua Chunying, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, by calling the 12 Hongkongers captured by China "elements attempting to separate Hong Kong from China."

Hua tweeted the following:

"Seriously?! Fact check: The 12 people were arrested for illegally crossing the border in waters. They are not democratic activists, but elements attempting to separate Hong Kong from China."

China, however, did not respond to the accusations regarding legal and human rights violation in China.

After detaining the 12 Hongkongers for 22 days, the Yiantian Branch of the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security Bureau announced on Sunday that 12 people were detained on suspicion for "trespassing the border".

Source: Stand News; Reuters #Sept13
https://bit.ly/3iunFWy

#HuaChunYing #ChinaPolice #PRCForeignMinistry #MikePompeo

Two-faced Chinese Rush to Cyprus: Run Before It's Too Late

Source: Apple Daily #Aug27

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Two-faced Chinese Rush to Cyprus: Run Before It's Too Late

Chinese dignitaries claim to be patriotic but secretly find an escape door for themselves. According to Al Jazeera, Cyprus issued 1,400 "Golden Passports" to applicants from more than 70 different countries, including 500 Chinese citizens, between 2017 and 2019. A Chinese businessman accepted an interview with Radio Free Asia, bluntly saying that everyone was aware of the crisis, "it will be too late if you don't escape (China) now."

Chinese businessman Mr. Zhang revealed that there had been definitely more than several hundreds officials who had migrated overseas or secretly obtained foreign passports in the past three years. One of the reasons for them to migrate overseas is because everyone is aware of the crisis brought on by the mad and impulsive Chinese leaders. All the hard work and wealth accumulated by the last generations will be washed down the drains in this crisis. Nobody can afford to lose. No one is willing to sacrifice their families' health and the future of their children to satisfy the Xi Jinping government's preposterous ambition.

Under the unfavorable factors such as economic downturn and massive collapse of private enterprises in China, Mr. Zhang said many of his friends decided to sell their assets and migrate overseas. "We were aware of it long time ago. It will be too late if you don't escape (China) now. They sold their local assets and made investment in foreign countries to actually preserve the value of their assets. Friends staying in China will have to constantly face the challenge of asset shrinkage."

Source: Apple Daily #Aug27
https://hk.appledaily.com/china/20200827/R5OSAYXSLFH5DDGVCEMG2TY6YU/

#Cyprus #GoldenPassport #CyprusPapers #EU #Emigration

The University of North Texas cancels its scholarship program. At least 15 Chinese scholars are expelled.

Tensions continue to rise between the United States and China. The University of North Texas (UNT) has announced the cancellation of its scholarship program, and at least 15 visiting scholars sponsored by the Chinese National Scholarship Council (CNSC) have been asked to leave the US within a month.

According to China's official media, the Global Times, UNT had sent an email to its faculty and students on August 26, announcing the end of its partnership with the CNSC. The 15 scholars funded by the project had to leave the university, and their email and online services were immediately suspended. They were also barred from entering the campus unaccompanied, but the email did not explain the reason for the cessation of the program.

Source: Stand News #Sep02

#UNT #CNSC #Texas #CCPsponsoredscholars

Rejecting the request to delete content from Beijing - French economist may not be able to publish his book

Source: Apple Daily #Sep02

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Rejecting the request to delete content from Beijing - French economist may not be able to publish his book

“Capital and Ideology”, a book that is written by a famous French Economist, Thomas Piketty, was originally planned to publish in the mainland China. However, as the book mentioned that, "the inequality gap is growing rapidly in China,” stating that its level of income inequality has almost reached the America’s. Also, he stated that the Chinese Government has not shown that they are better off when it comes to comparing the western democratic system yet," the Chinese publisher requested to him to remove the corresponding context. Piketty declined to delete the article and as a result, he believed that his book publication plan would die, describing the publication censor " seems to indicate that the Chinese regime gets more serious and nervous, and states that they would not have any open debate on different economic and political systems."

Piketty published “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” in 2013, which he criticized deeply on western capitalism in the U.S. and Europe. At that time, the Chinese government praised this 700-page book strongly, while it obtained the global sales record in 2014. Nevertheless, Piketty recently believes that his new book, “Capital and Ideology”, is impossible to publish in China as he rejected the cancellation request from the Chinese publisher.

“Capital and Ideology” was published in France last year. The English version is then printed in March in the U.S. The content describes the inequality regime around different times and parts of the world, extending the research on the economic inequality in non-western countries like China and India. A large portion of content
focuses on China and its socialism with capitalist characteristics. “Capital and Ideology” was planned to publish in China. Nevertheless, the Chinese publisher, CITIC Press Group, had sent two 10-page list to the French publisher, Les Editions du Seuil, requesting to remove some of the contexts both in English and French.

#Chinese #French #Piketty #CapitalandIdeology #censorship #China #France #Publication

Source: Apple Daily #Sep02

https://hk.appledaily.com/international/20200902/JK6HWCR4IRCNDHQU3W3FSVFKYI/