APEC protests, erhu player jailed, academic restrictions grows

Highlights from this issue:

• Media access restricted at financial summit 
• Google refuses takedown request of Jimmy Lai documentary  
• Volunteer coordinates letter writing to prisoners 
• US lawmakers introduce new Hong Kong sanctions law  
• Stand News sedition verdict delayed

Press Freedom 

• Media access restricted at financial summit: From November 6 to 8, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the territory’s de facto central bank, hosted its second international financial leaders’ summit, attracting executives from major global banks despite Hong Kong’s economic woes and political crackdown. On November 14, the Hong Kong Journalists Association raised concerns that journalists’ ability to access attendees was extremely limited. The prominent journalists’ union reported that journalists were relegated to a separate floor and permitted to watch speeches via live stream but not to interview attendees directly, in what it called a “serious blow to press freedom.”  

Internet freedom

• Google refused takedown request of Jimmy Lai documentary: A Google transparency report published last month revealed that in April 2023, Hong Kong police had requested that its video-sharing platform, YouTube, take down a documentary about Jimmy Lai. The film, The Hong Konger, was produced by the US-based Acton Institute and has amassed over 2.8 million views since April. The police reportedly requested the removal of five videos related to the film, claiming they amounted to “seditious content,” but the company refused. The transparency report shows a steady increase in Hong Kong removal requests; 6 were filed in the second half of 2020, while 72 were filed in the first half of 2023. Unlike in mainland China, YouTube is not blocked in Hong Kong.
• Student convicted for social media posts made in Japan: On November 3, a judge sentenced 23-year-old Yuen Ching-ting to two months in prison over social media posts made when she was studying in Japan that were critical of the CCP and supportive of Hong Kong protesters. She was charged under the colonial-era “sedition law” for posts made between 2018 and early 2023. 

Academic and artistic freedom 

• Restrictions on academic freedom evident in scholar ban, British lawyer’s talk canceled: On October 24, Canadian Chinese scholar Rowena He was informed by the Hong Kong Immigration Department that her visa renewal to work at City University of Hong Kong (CUHK) had been denied. CUHK, where He taught since 2019, subsequently informed her that her position had been terminated. He, who has been on a fellowship in the United States, is a political science professor and specializes in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest, massacre, and aftermath. Her case has been viewed as the latest example of increasing restrictions on academic freedom, especially in the social sciences. Those restrictions, along with the worsening political environment, has driven hundreds of scholars to leave Hong Kong, prompting a record high turnover rate in 2022. More recently, a talk scheduled for November 17 at Hong Kong University by a British barrister who had been barred from representing jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai was canceled due to “unforeseen circumstances.” 
• Jail term for erhu player: On October 24, an elderly erhu player named Li Jiexin was sentenced to 30 days in prison after performing the protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong” in public; Li was convicted of performing and raising money without a permit, but the judge acknowledged his actions amounted to “soft resistance,” reinforcing the political tinge of the case.

Featured initiatives 

• Volunteer coordinates letter writing, delivery to prisoners: On November 6, The Collective, a digital magazine run by journalists from now-shuttered Hong Kong outlets, published a detailed article about a young woman who writes letters to and visits the territory’s many political prisoners. She also coordinates transferring letters of solidarity and greetings sent to the prisoners by others, spending at least two hours each day on the task and breaking through some of the social isolation experienced by the detainees.
• US lawmakers introduce bill to sanction Hong Kong judges and prosecutors: In early November, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the United States introduced legislation that would require the US president within 180 days to determine whether certain Hong Kong officials working in the legal system had violated human rights and should be sanctioned under other existing US legislation. Two versions of the legislation were introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and name 49 individuals as the subjects of the requested review. 
• After calls for exclusion, sanctioned Hong Kong chief executive avoids APEC: On October 31, the Hong Kong government announced that John Lee, the territory’s chief executive, would not be attending the APEC summit in San Francisco due to a scheduling conflict. Lee was sanctioned by the US government in 2020 for his role in the imposition of the National Security Law and subsequent crackdown on protestors and journalists. Hong Kong activists and rights groups had called on the US to avoid issuing him an invitation and visa, while the Chinese government urged the US to include him. Whether that invitation came remains unclear, but the Hong Kong government may have decided to send an alternate to avoid the public humiliation and increased US-China tensions of having Lee barred.

What to Watch For: 

• Stand News sedition verdict in Hong Kong: On November 15, a district court judge delayed the verdict in a sedition case involving the Stand News media outlet, pending a ruling from a higher court. That case’s ultimate conclusion may depend on whether Hong Kong courts follow a judgment of the UK Privy Council, a panel of judges whose decisions typically guide common-law jurisdictions, in a Trinidad and Tobago case that found sedition offenses “must include an intention to incite violence and disorder.” Watch for the decision of the territory’s Court of Appeal, its impact on the Stand News verdict, and other “sedition” charges involving nonviolent speech.
• Adoption of Article 23 security legislation: On October 25, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee confirmed during a speech that his administration plans to introduce in 2024 security legislation under Article 23 of the territory’s Basic Law to accompany the Beijing-imposed National Security Law (NSL) adopted in 2020. The government had last attempted to introduce such legislation in 2003 but abandoned the plan after over 500,000 Hong Konger took the streets in protest. Watch for whether the legislation is indeed introduced and if its provisions would further expand restrictions on civil society, free expression, and freedom of religion beyond those currently imposed by the NSL and colonial-era sedition laws.