Hong Kong

Amnesty International’s China campaigner

08 Sep 2022 0 2

John Lee

Inserted 1 year ago

“Connecting with the world and with the mainland, we shall do both and they are not contradictory. I understand that one of Hong Kong's competitiveness lies in its international connections.”

Chief Executive of Hong Kong

01 Aug 2022 2 2

Gary Pui-fung Wong

Inserted 1 year ago

“The combined pressures of being a Hong Konger and a young person are a potent mix. Many people in their 20s are going through a transitional phase as they begin to think more seriously about their future careers and family prospects. Even before 2019 this was difficult in Hong Kong, where renting - let alone buying - a flat is out of reach for most young people. At the moment they need to consider the future of the city into their own personal plan. If the integration of Hong Kong into the Chinese mainland continues than this city may be facing some fundamental change, so they need to think about migration and especially if the UK and Canada are opening up options for some [university] graduates to move.”

Lecturer at Leeds University whose research includes Hong Kong’s cultural history

01 Jul 2022 1 1

Michael Davis

Inserted 1 year ago

“The vague national security law causes considerable uncertainty about acceptable behaviour for international companies. The pressure on the courts that has accompanied enforcement has likely reduced confidence in the rule of law, which has historically been the city's distinguishing characteristic to attract international business. International firms also face pressure to support Beijing's policies while at the same time these companies face pressure in democracies where they operate to not support such repressive policies, at the risk of market exclusion.”

Former law professor at the University of Hong Kong

30 Jun 2022 1 3

Ben Cowling

Inserted 2 years ago

“With so few cases in Hong Kong, seniors showed a rational hesitancy to the vaccine. When there was no COVID in the community and no expectation there would be COVID, and seniors worried about side effects, you can see why they'd be hesitant. It's basically risky to pursue Zero COVID if you can't be confident that you can deliver Zero COVID.”

Infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong

19 Feb 2022 2 5

Lam Carrie

Inserted 2 years ago

“The time has come for Hong Kong to take some tough measures. We are adopting stringent measures to protect Hong Kong. When vaccination rates increase, when Omicron disappears and when other things happen, we will revisit our strategy.”

Chief Executive of Hong Kong

08 Feb 2022 4 4

Daisy Li

Inserted 2 years ago

“We haven't changed. It's the exterior, objective environment that has changed. As the chief editor, I'm not able to decide whether this story, that reporting or this quote, if published, will violate the law in this changed environment.”

Nytimes

Chief editor of Citizen News

03 Jan 2022 0 3

Lokman Tsui

Inserted 2 years ago

“What's happening is not just another closure of a media outlet. This is part of a larger project by the government of dismantling all critical media, of all independent media in Hong Kong.”

Nytimes

Former journalism professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong

03 Jan 2022 3 3

Citizen News

Inserted 2 years ago

“Regrettably, the rapid changes in society and worsening environment for media make us unable to achieve our goal fearlessly. Amid this crisis, we have to first make sure everyone on the boat is safe.”

Statement by Citizen News

02 Jan 2022 1 3

Oliver Farry

Inserted 2 years ago

“It's hard to see things letting up. Media are being extra careful under the National Security Law but the arrests today, as many others have been, are under the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance, which is equally vague and wide-ranging. If the government wants to pursue anyone, they have ample tools at their disposal in these laws. And, much as foreign governments or media outlets might cry foul about it, there is ultimately little they can do. It's unclear whether other independent media will also be targeted - the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, for now, are more concerned about going after those, like Stand News, that publish in Chinese. But there will likely be a move against the Hong Kong Journalists Association. This has been coming for quite some time. Pro-Beijing media and some members of the government have been making noises about the HKJA having a bias against the government and of irregular membership practices. It's really not that hard to imagine the government banning it.”

Foreign correspondent and writer in Hong Kong

29 Dec 2021 4 5

Benedict Rogers

Inserted 2 years ago

“When a free press guaranteed by Hong Kong's Basic Law is labelled 'seditious', it is a symbol of the speed at which this once great, open, international city has descended into little more than a police state.”

Co-founder and CEO of the non-governmental organisation Hong Kong Watch

29 Dec 2021 2 3

Sophie Richardson

Inserted 2 years ago

“The arrests had nothing to do with sedition. They are pure retribution by the Chinese government, which seeks to eradicate the free media in Hong Kong documenting Beijing's abusive conduct. Shutting down Stand News, Apple Daily and other critical outlets lays that agenda bare.”

China director at Human Rights Watch

29 Dec 2021 4 4

Britt Clennett

Inserted 2 years ago

“The police had frozen $7.8m worth of assets and seized 'subversive articles'. It is not clear what those articles are but the police said some of them had intended to split the country. We also heard from Hong Kong Chief Secretary John Lee who backed the police actions entirely, saying journalism cannot be used as a tool against national security.”

Al Jazeera’s journalist reporting from Hong Kong

29 Dec 2021 3 5

Jens Galschiot

Inserted 2 years ago

“Don't do anything. Don't talk about the crackdown. Don't say anything about China we don't like … Don't talk about the party. Don't talk about Xinjiang. Don't talk about Tibet. Don't talk about anything that the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] doesn't like to hear. This is a way to oppress the population. It's a crime against the democracy movement in Beijing - a peaceful movement. Also, it's a monument against the decision by the Chinese government to kill all those people … to do an attack against their own young people. Now, it's a monument about what happened in Hong Kong.”

Danish artist and creator of the statue Pillar of Shame

23 Dec 2021 6 4

Jeffrey Wasserstrom

Inserted 2 years ago

“This is a symbolically important move, which fits in with so many other sad recent ones, such as campus democracy walls being stripped of posters. There is a recurring theme of disappearances; of objects from campuses and disappearances of people into prisons or exile. What is disappearing in the process - or at least diminishing dramatically, as there are still contrasts - is the sense of Hong Kong universities as radically unlike mainland ones.”

Author of the book Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink, and a historian of modern China at the University of California, Irvine

23 Dec 2021 2 3

Siu-kai Lau

Inserted 2 years ago

“The new Legislative Council, now under the complete control of patriots, will function effectively as the guardian of national security and unity.”

Vice-president of Beijing’s top Hong Kong think-tank

20 Dec 2021 3 2

Chung Kim-wah

Inserted 2 years ago

“The tension between the authorities and the people will remain in place for a long time while the legislators won't be mediators because they have to toe Beijing's line.”

Taipeitimes

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute

20 Dec 2021 2 4

Lam Carrie

Inserted 2 years ago

“Hong Kong is now back on the right track of one country, two systems. We cannot copy and paste the so-called democratic system or rules of the Western countries.”

Taipeitimes

Chief Executive of Hong Kong

20 Dec 2021 2 3

Adrian Lau Cheuk-yu

Inserted 2 years ago

“Lot's of citizens sometimes tell me that they worry about whether I am safe but I already prepare myself, you know personally I don't have the burden, and politically I also don't have this burden. My most important reason to join this election is to try to help them voice what we need. This is the most important thing. Now the storytelling is totally different from the government, or from the pro Beijing side, and the citizens heard that what they want to say is totally different from the government, and I try to help voice what they need.”

Channelnewsasia

Hong Kong politician running in the district New Territories South West (Legislative Council (LegCo) elections)

15 Dec 2021 1 2

Adrian Lau Cheuk-yu

Inserted 2 years ago

“I cannot represent the whole democratic camp. The definition of 'democracy' is wide, but I can say I'm a firm democrat, an independent democrat. I understand that politicians face huge pressure. Some have left Hong Kong, some are in exile, some in jail, but I have stayed. And I think we cannot just lay down and do nothing. We cannot surrender. So if there is a chance, I will move forward. The space for the pro-democratic camp has undoubtedly narrowed. The path is steep. But I still have hope, because that's the only way. There is no next step if we do nothing. Yes, we do not have veto power now, but at least we can have the right to access information if I get into Legco. I do not know how much I can do in Legco, but I know that if we miss the chance to have a voice, we are all heading for a dead end.”

Scmp

Hong Kong politician running in the district New Territories South West (Legislative Council (LegCo) elections)

14 Dec 2021 3 2

Jimmy Lai

Inserted 2 years ago

“If commemorate (sic) those who died because of injustice is a crime, then inflict on me that crime and let me suffer the punishment of this crime, so I may share the burden and glory of those young men and women who shed their blood on June 4th to proclaim truth, justice and goodness.”

Hong Kong entrepreneur and activist

13 Dec 2021 3 2

Adrian Lau Cheuk-yu

Inserted 2 years ago

“There are actually no more democrats. Those who joined the election but said they are not pro-establishment are quite far from what 'democrats' were. Supporting universal suffrage for both [the legislature and the chief executive] must be my line. This is what I must say. There are so many red lines, you don't even know how to talk anymore. I think we should simply be like normal people and speak the truth in human language.”

Hongkongfp

Hong Kong politician running in the district New Territories South West (Legislative Council (LegCo) elections)

12 Dec 2021 5 2

Kyle Ward

Inserted 2 years ago

“The Hong Kong government must stop endlessly expanding its definition of 'endangering national security' as a means of locking up people who express views it doesn't like.”

Amnesty International's Deputy Secretary-General

11 Nov 2021 3 3

Stanley Chan

Inserted 2 years ago

“It's hard to guarantee that other people incited by him won't become another Ma Chun-man. Whether he used violence, whether he defied the law enforcers, whether his ideas got others' recognition - all these are not important.”

Hong Kong judge specially chosen by the government to try national security cases

11 Nov 2021 1 2

Agnes Callamard

Inserted 2 years ago

“We are deeply indebted to Amnesty members and staff who over the last 40 years have worked tirelessly to protect human rights in and from Hong Kong. From successfully pushing for the full abolition of the death penalty in Hong Kong in 1993, to exposing evidence of excessive use of force by police during the 2019 mass protests, Amnesty in Hong Kong has shone a light on human rights violations in the darkest of days.”

UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions

25 Oct 2021 5 3

Anjhula Mya Singh Bais

Inserted 2 years ago

“This decision, made with a heavy heart, has been driven by Hong Kong's national security law, which has made it effectively impossible for human rights organizations in Hong Kong to work freely and without fear of serious reprisals from the government. Hong Kong has long been an ideal regional base for international civil society organizations, but the recent targeting of local human rights and trade union groups signals an intensification of the authorities' campaign to rid the city of all dissenting voices. It is increasingly difficult for us to keep operating in such an unstable environment.”

Chair of the International Board of Amnesty International

25 Oct 2021 4 3

Ronson Chan

Inserted 2 years ago

“We will try to fight to the last moment. But honestly, it's a gamble. How cruelly will the Beijing government treat us? We know the history of journalists in the People's Republic of China.”

Nytimes

Chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association

24 Oct 2021 2 3

Nathan Law

Inserted 2 years ago

“Tong [Tong Ying-kit] is not a terrorist, Hong Kong protesters are not terrorists. The Hong Kong government uses this stigmatization to discredit the democratic movement and justify its suppression.”

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist

30 Jul 2021 1 4

Yamini Mishra

Inserted 2 years ago

“This feels like the beginning of the end for freedom of expression in Hong Kong. People should be free to use political slogans during protests, and Tong Ying-kit should not be punished for exercising his right to free speech.”

Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director

27 Jul 2021 3 4

Adrian Brown

Inserted 2 years ago

“The hearing which took place over 15 days took place without a jury. The verdict was instead delivered by three judges appointed by the Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam. And also the defendant did not appear as a witness. Outside the court today there were no protesters and few signs of supporters. But that doesn't mean to say that the sentiment has changed among many people here. Beneath the surface people are still seething over the events of last year buts its just not manifesting itself in the way that it once did.”

Al Jazeera’s journalist reporting from Hong Kong

27 Jul 2021 1 2

John Lee

Inserted 2 years ago

“Normal journalists are different from these people. Don't collude with them. Do your journalistic work as freely as you like in accordance with the law, provided you do not conspire or have any intention to break ... the national security law.”

Hong Kong Secretary for Security

17 Jun 2021 0 4

Ned Price

Inserted 2 years ago

“The charges of 'collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security' appear to be entirely politically motivated.”

Spokesperson for the United States Department of State

17 Jun 2021 0 4

Luo Huining

Inserted 2 years ago

“Those trying to turn Hong Kong into a pawn in geopolitics, a tool in curbing China, as well as a bridgehead for infiltrating the mainland, are destroying the foundation of one country, two systems. They are the real enemies of Hong Kong's prosperity and stability.”

Taiwannews

Director of China's Hong Kong Liaison Office

12 Jun 2021 1 2

Jimmy Sham

Inserted 2 years ago

“We do not see the hope of democracy and freedom in a leader, a group, or a ceremony. Every one of us is the hope of democracy and freedom.”

Hong Kong political and LGBT rights activist

03 Jun 2021 2 2

Rowena He Xiaoqing

Inserted 2 years ago

“Two years [after the lawful 2019 vigil] here I am in Hong Kong, we cannot even get close to the park without fear on June 4. Yes, Victoria park will be without candles this year. But one thing I learned from two decades of studying Tiananmen is that there is always light in our hearts that cannot be swallowed by darkness. History is on our side.”

History scholar on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and author of 'Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy in China'

03 Jun 2021 3 2

William Nee

Inserted 2 years ago

“With authorities cracking down harshly on the annual Tiananmen vigil in Hong Kong, which was once the only place on Chinese soil where people could freely commemorate the victims of Tiananmen, many people recognise that it will be all the more important to carry out small vigils and amplify them using social media. Unfortunately, this will be the main way that people can continue to remember the dead and press for justice.”

Researcher at China Human Rights Defenders

03 Jun 2021 2 2

Richard Tsoi

Inserted 2 years ago

“We have to apologise to the public. Hong Kong Alliance can no longer organise the candlelight vigil this year in a lawful manner. We will stop promoting the vigil. On that day, we won't, as an organisation and members of Hong Kong Alliance, appear and join.”

Former politician and member of Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China

29 May 2021 1 1

Joseph Tse-hei Lee

Inserted 2 years ago

“The new security arrangement has changed the rules of the game. Most importantly, it suspends the 'one country, two systems' experiment that was widely thought to expire in 2047. When Hong Kong no longer offers the same legal protections and civil liberties that were once integral parts of autonomy, the world has to review and revise bilateral linkages and relations. Coming to grips with this hostile international environment is crucial to recognizing the costs of violating the autonomous constitutional status. For Hong Kong to survive and thrive, its political elites must return to a rules-based governance structure, end widespread police and judiciary abuses, and communicate with pro-democracy opposition groups and the civic sector.”

Taipeitimes

Professor of history at Pace University in New York City

29 Apr 2021 1 3

Nathan Law

Inserted 3 years ago

“The fact that I am wanted under the National Security Law shows that I am exposed to severe political persecution and am unlikely to return to Hong Kong without risk. I hope that my case can help the Home Office understand more about the complicated situation in Hong Kong. To free more protesters from Beijing's authoritarian oppression, the Home Office could consider more comprehensive evidence.”

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist

08 Apr 2021 2 5

Sarah Clark

Inserted 3 years ago

“Nearly every major voice of dissent, or figure of opposition, is either in exile, in jail or on trial. Now, more than 2,400 people have been charged as part of this crackdown. One democracy activist said the movement will simply have to find other ways of showing opposition to China.”