Hong Kong hits back at ‘external forces’ after NGOs, foreign govt’s condemn conviction of Tiananmen vigil activists

The Hong Kong government and the legislature have hit back at “external forces” that voiced concerns over the conviction of two pro-democracy figures who organised Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen vigils.

In a statement, the government “expressed strong dissatisfaction with and firm opposition to, and strongly condemned, the baseless slanders” by western nations as well as “anti-China media, organisations and politicians.”

Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan were found guilty of inciting subversion on Friday, along with their now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

The Saturday statement was issued in response to governments, activists, and overseas human rights groups who expressed concern about what they saw as declining freedoms in the city. The condemnation came after Chow and Lee were accused of inciting others to topple the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through the Alliance’s calls to “end one-party rule” in China, a key tenet of the group since its founding in 1989.

Former lawmaker Albert Ho, another leader of the group who was charged alongside the pair convicted on Friday, pleaded guilty when the trial began in January.

Earlier, prosecutors argued that the Alliance’s calls breached China’s constitution, after a 2018 amendment stipulated that the CCP’s leadership is the “defining feature” of the country’s “fundamental” socialist system.

Echoing Friday’s judgment, the government statement said that the defendants “refused to pull back from the brink” even after Beijing implemented a national security law in Hong Kong, “and were bent on embracing the resistance line of the Alliance to the very end.”

‘Patriots only’

The Legislative Council secretariat on Saturday issued a similarly worded statement, condemning “smearing and slanderous remarks by external forces” over the court verdict.

In March 2021, Beijing restricted elections to ensure only “patriots” govern Hong Kong. The move attracted criticism as it reduced democratic representation and introduced candidate vetting, whilst authorities say the revamp ensured stability and prosperity.

“Under the executive-led system,” the statement read, the legislature will “certainly continue to fully support the [Hong Kong] government in administering in accordance with the law and firmly safeguarding national security, ensuring the steadfast and successful implementation of ‘one country, two systems.’”

On Friday, a panel of government-appointed judges acknowledged that the activists did not suggest any specific means of ending one-party rule, and that the Alliance had never used or advocated violence.

But they said the defendants still spread the goal of “end one-party dictatorship” after the security law was passed, and compared the anti-extradition protests and unrest in 2019 to the “June 4th Incident” – the Tiananmen crackdown.

“[This stirred] up the hostility of [Hongkongers] towards the CCP, eroding and undermining the public’s confidence in its leadership,” they said.

The trio are expected to appear in court this Friday morning for a mitigation hearing ahead of sentencing, whereby they each face jail terms of up to 10 years.

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James Lee is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in culture and social issues. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he witnessed the institution’s transformation over the course of the 2019 extradition bill protests and after the passing of the Beijing-imposed security law.

Since joining HKFP in 2023, he has covered local politics, the city’s housing crisis, as well as landmark court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial. He was previously a reporter at The Standard where he interviewed pro-establishment heavyweights and extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and Hong Kong’s political overhauls under the national security law.