Big Lychee, Various Sectors

German activist and former HKU student David Missal is turned away at Hong Kong airport after hours of questioning after flying in from… Beijing. As some are pointing out, this could be an example of ‘1 Country. 2 Systems’, in which Hong Kong has the stricter regime. Something like this already happens: there are quite a few Hong Kong residents who get turned away from Macau.

The US State Dept issues a business advisory on Hong Kong, warning of ‘vague’ local and extraterritorial NatSec and Article 23 Laws risks to companies and personnel…

Businesses operating in Hong Kong face potential legal, regulatory, operational, financial, and reputational risks, including of increased scrutiny, potential financial penalties, and legal actions for perceived violations of the NSL or the SNS Ordinance. 

Businesses operating in Hong Kong may face conflicting jurisdictional requirements and liability in connection with sanctions compliance efforts. Failure to adhere to U.S. sanctions can result in civil and criminal penalties under U.S. law.

The predictable response…

​The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) today (September 7) rejected the misleading and untruthful remarks on Hong Kong’s legal system and business environment in the so-called updated “business advisory” issued by various departments of the government of the United States (US) which tried to create panic. It is necessary for the HKSAR Government to make clarifications to set the record straight.

There are 14 more paras.

From HKFP, an op-ed on education officials’ badminton theory of teen sex and the government’s growing antipathy towards gay rights activists…

…the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau (curiously) is in charge of an Equal Opportunities (Sexual Orientation) Fund which, since 2015, has supported NGOs working in this area.

For the current financial year its budget dropped by almost half. Many groups had funding cut or deleted altogether. The fund went from supporting 18 to 24 groups to supporting just 10. Also, among the survivors are three groups – all founded by the same person – offering “conversion therapy”, a scientifically disreputable attempt to turn gay people “straight” which is much cherished by religious groups.

Funding for AIDS prevention work, which comes from the Health Bureau, has also been cut. And the Equal Opportunities Commission has dropped its earlier enthusiasm for legislation against discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Like other NGOs which do not attract official support, those working in this area find it difficult to hold events in public places or to book venues for private ones. Fundraising has withered because of the legal hazards, particularly if the funds come from overseas.

…Are we approaching a new reality in which any NGO not wrapped in the tentacles of the local establishment is going to be frozen gradually out of existence? Fairness, like justice, must be not just done, but seen to be done.

This obviously reflects Beijing’s own fear of gay rights movements – which is mainly about a distrust of any civil society activism that is obviously spreading to Hong Kong. But it also suggests that the homophobic elements in Hong Kong’s civil service and conservative/pro-Beijing camp are seeing an opportunity to push their old Confucian-puritan agenda. 

Hong Kong’s top security official is sorely vexed after the Wall Street Journal’s recent editorial on the Stand News trial…

In an open letter to the Journal on Tuesday, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung … vowed that Hong Kong would not be intimidated and would resolutely continue to safeguard national security.

Tang was responding to a commentary by the outlet’s editorial board titled “Hong Kong convicts two editors”, which was published on Monday, days after Hong Kong’s District Court convicted two Stand News editors of conspiracy to publish seditious articles.

The editorial argued that practising journalism could now count as a crime in Hong Kong due to the recent conviction, and a Western due-diligence firm or consultancy that ran afoul of the government’s censorious attitude might be the next target.

It also criticised the “benighted” leaders of Hong Kong, saying they deserved the world’s scorn and sanctions.

…“We are not intimidated by the so-called sanctions mentioned in your piece, which are despicable political manipulation. We will resolutely continue to safeguard national security,” the security minister wrote.

LinguaSinica (better written than any WSJ editorial) does the Stand News story…

Another newsletter, another dark day for the press in Hong Kong. Last time, it was a new low for the city’s press freedom score. The time before that, it was the Wall Street Journal becoming party to the government’s press crackdown by firing a reporter elected to lead the local journalists’ union.

This time, it’s a court verdict that sets a troubling new precedent. Last Thursday, two former senior editors at Stand News (立場新聞) were found guilty of sedition over opinion pieces the pro-democracy online outlet ran over several years. Stand’s former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen (鍾沛權) and ex-acting editor Patrick Lam Shiu-tung (林紹桐) were both charged under a colonial-era law that hadn’t seen the light of day for decades.

The trial was described as “a litmus test for press freedom in the city.” If that’s apt, the results couldn’t be clearer — or more damning. Even more than ever before, journalists in the city will be watching every word they and their columnists say. It’s important, though, that we don’t simply write off Hong Kong and declare once and for all that journalism in the city is dead. Things are bad but they can — and likely will — get worse. Our capacity to still be shocked when that happens matters. Keeping it alive means taking stock of what is and is not possible there, and supporting the individuals and organizations who continue to report on and from Hong Kong.

Chinese U apparently drops a former Stand News contributor from his teaching position.

NHK video report on the movie Love in the Time of Revolution, with clips and an interview with director Twinkle Ngan, now living in exile. The film – banned in Hong Kong – is now being shown in Japan. 

SCMP throws caution to the wind, and potentially commits some form of ‘intention to incite hatred of the authorities’ sedition, with an op-ed mocking the government’s classification of obscure gatherings and trivial exhibitions as ‘mega events’…

They released a list in January of more than 80 “mega events” to be held in the first half of the year, and they added about 100 more in March to be held between July and December. The roster was so stacked, that Hong Kong would have “one mega event every two days”.

A government spokesman told the Post that 1.7 million tourists would “participate” in the more than 210 events, with spending estimated at HK$7.2 billion, adding about HK$4.3 billion to the economy.

But a look of the list shows some of its star attractions, such as the New Year fireworks, the Hong Kong Marathon, Art Basel and the Wine and Dine Festival, are held annually, regardless of the government’s new pivot. Another 21 per cent are considered trade shows, some of which are unlikely to attract anyone beyond niche audiences. December’s 11th Asian Congress of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and the Asian Insurance Forum, for example, strain the definition of “mega”.

…How did the city get to this point, where a handful of balloons could be officially promoted as a world-class event?

Yuen blamed, in part, the government’s focus on bureaucrats meeting key performance indicators, or KPIs, which encouraged a practice of chasing “output” rather than “outcome”.

…When asked whether the mega events so far had been successful in pushing Hong Kong forward, Zeman said: “I’ll put it this way – I think if there has been a huge [economic] benefit, the government would be blowing their horns very loudly.”

Some weekend reading…

A fetching 1989 pic of Cally Kwong, Cantopop singer, NPC deputy and star of recent patriotic song Our Home video.

From HKFP…

China’s state security agency on Wednesday warned students with access to sensitive information against falling for “handsome men” or “beautiful women” that might entice them to spy for foreign powers.

Beijing’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has promoted claims that foreign spies are working to lure loyal Chinese to betray their country — often in lurid and unusual ways — since opening a WeChat account last year.

It has warned that foreign spies “have countless disguises, and can even change their gender” and called on citizens to “build 1.4 billion lines of defence” against threats to the country.

…Under Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful and authoritarian leader in decades, Beijing has stepped up dark warnings that foreign powers are seeking to clip the country’s rise.

(Compare and contrast with Linda Sun, formerly of NY State governor’s office.)

This sounds like fun: An Attempt to Discuss the Nature of Taiwan’s High Degree of Autonomy After Peaceful Reunification: Based on the Practical Experience of Hong Kong.

If you’re into fantasizing about how you would run a territory after you invade and subdue it, this is worth half an hour or so of your time. Features the pros and cons (ideological rather than practical, needless to say) of different degrees of autonomy/control, with plentiful, perhaps delusional, reference to Hong Kong. Not paywalled or anything, so just dive in.

The Working Group on Patriotic Education proudly presents the song Our Home. Highlights of the video include the C919 airliner, astronauts lined up on a stage, panda bears, and the Kowloon National Palace Museum, plus lots of kids, displaying varying degrees of enthusiasm. 

Musically, it sounds like so many tunes composed to align with the tones of (unimaginative) Cantonese lyrics – predictable melodic intervals devoid of any chromatic, harmonic or rhythmic interest. Just a dash of Taylor Swift or hip-hop could have spiced it up, but no.

Indeed, this one is probably less catchy than previous government-produced ditties like Hong Kong, Our Home or Heading Forward. As if the bureaucrats and the songwriters they commissioned were just ticking boxes, playing as safe as possible, and in a rush to get the project done. ‘Cha bu duo’, as they say in Mandarin.

A karaoke version is being sent out to schools. The government says…

The karaoke version of “Our Home” features landmarks and scenery from Hong Kong, allowing viewers to enjoy the melody and catchy lyrics while appreciating the beauty of Hong Kong, thereby deepening their connection to the country. 

More from HKFP…

HKFP has reached out to the government about how much it cost to produce the song.

Starry Lee, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, a pro-establishment legislator and the convenor of WGPE, said on Tuesday that the song was released on Tuesday to commemorate those who fought and died in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Ming Pao reported.

“We hope that by becoming familiar with this theme song and singing together, members of the public, especially the youth, will subtly develop national awareness and enhance their feelings of ‘Love our Country, Love Hong Kong, Love our Community,” Lee said in Cantonese during the press conference to launch the song.

…The karaoke version was sung by 62-year-old singer Cally Kwong, who is also a non-official member of WGPE. Kwong was popular during the 1980s and 1990s, before becoming an entrepreneur in the early 2000s. She has since joined multiple pro-establishment groups.

Few business stories get clicks like a (probably paywalled) Bloomberg report of blood and mayhem among property tycoons and luxury brands…

Only three of the more than 30 units at the [1881] mall owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings Ltd. are occupied, and its colonnaded courtyards are quiet.

On nearby Canton Road, a shop previously rented by Swatch Group AG’s Omega for about HK$7.5 million ($962,000) a month is leased to a bank for 80% less, according to real estate agents familiar with the deal. Over in Causeway Bay’s Russell Street, a Transformers-themed fast-food restaurant has taken the place of Burberry Plc. Its rent is 89% below the HK$8.8 million the British firm was forking out in 2019, the agents said…

…Official figures show fewer Chinese tourists are visiting the city than before the pandemic, and those who are coming spend on average only half of what they used to … In the first seven months of this year, sales of luxury goods — which includes items such as jewelry, watches and department store receipts — were 42% below 2018’s level.

The subdued spending and shuttered stores are adding to a deepening sense of malaise in Hong Kong. Home prices are at an eight-year low, office vacancies are near a record high and the benchmark stock index is among the world’s worst performing. The city’s aging problem has been accelerated by an exodus of younger residents, while the government’s crackdown on dissent has shaken international confidence in the city. Squeezing businesses further, borrowing costs have surged due to a currency peg with the greenback, which forces the city to import US monetary policy.

In a sign of weakening confidence, household spending fell in the three months to June for the first time since the third quarter of 2022, while analysts project economic growth will slow next year from 2023.

New World Development’s share price plummets as the debt-heavy company warns of losses…

Its stock has slid some 80 percent since its peak in mid-2021…

Even more if you go back further: it was over HK$100 in 2008, and is below HK$7 today. An old saying about Chinese family corporate dynasties: the first generation makes the wealth; the second generation enjoys it; and the third loses it.

More from HKFP…

Hong Kong’s retail sector woes may last into next year, an industry representative has said, as sales fell 11.8 per cent in July compared to the same period last year.

Chairperson of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association Annie Tse made the forecast on Monday, adding that inbound tourism only had a minimal effect in easing the situation.

…Hong Kong has seen a shift in spending patterns with Hongkongers “heading north” for inexpensive dining and shopping, while “citywalks” – exploring the city on foot and taking photos – became the dominant mode of tourism for visitors from mainland China.

…She called for a 30 per cent rent cut to help the retail sector, saying that some retailers had seen rent reductions of around five to 10 per cent – which she described as being “better than nothing.”

Why do landlords prefer keeping properties empty to just cutting rents? One of those eternal mysteries. Similarly, why can’t Hong Kong officials face reality and stop trying to return to the old model of huge tourism numbers and over-reliance on land revenues? The old days of 12% annual growth in the Chinese economy and Mainlanders’ apparently endless demand for overpriced brands are not going to come back.

On a brighter note…

The Working Group on Patriotic Education under the Constitution and Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee launched a theme song titled Our Home yesterday to promote patriotic education.

It’s easy to forget that Hong Kong’s Democratic Party still exists. Former Chair Wu Chi-wai is among the HK 47, in jail awaiting sentencing for participating in the pan-dems’ 2020 primary election. The party is in effect barred from what remains of elections in the all-patriots era. And its remaining members mostly keep their heads down. But they are joining in the annual Chief Executive’s Policy Address suggestions ritual (even though they are not invited to the stage-managed town hall consultation meetings).

It’s also easy to forget that there was once a serious survey to compare public-sector and private-sector pay. It was roughly 25 years ago (was it done by Price Waterhouse?). It found that government employees’ remuneration was more than double that in the real world, and officials hastily buried it. Today, civil service pay adjustments are usually, roughly, based on private-sector pay rises – ignoring the gap in base pay levels.

The DP tentatively alludes to this in its Policy Address recommendations, and raises the equally pressing issues of the sheer size of the civil service and the poor state of government finances…

It proposed that the government cease civil service expansion in the face of economic woes. Hong Kong logged an estimated HK$139 billion deficit in 2022-23 and HK$101 billion in 2023-24.

“When the economy is bad and residents are feeling the pressures, does it look good if the government continues to expand its civil service?” Democratic Party Chairperson Lo Kin-hei said in Cantonese during a press conference on Sunday. “I think the government should stop hiring and review the various pay grades, to see if there are positions that could be cut.”

He also suggested that principal government officials cut their salaries in the spirit of experiencing the difficult times alongside residents, according to local media reports.

The small number of people picked to attend Policy Address forums suggested things like ‘recruiting volunteers to help tourists take photos on the waterfront and creating a new mascot for the city’, plus no doubt things about baby panda bears. The DP urges the government to safeguard human rights, rule of law and the free flow of information, provide better treatment for inmates and sexual minorities, and introduce universal suffrage…

[Chairperson Lo Kin-hei] said his party had hoped to meet with Chief Secretary Eric Chan last week, but to no avail.

Following overseas criticism of the Stand News sedition trial, the Hong Kong government makes known its displeasure…

After the District Court found three defendants guilty of “conspiracy to publish and/or reproduce seditious publication” yesterday (August 29), officials from the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, anti-China organisations, anti-China politicians, and some foreign media have made untruthful and purely political remarks smearing the freedom of the press in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), exposing their hypocrisy and double standards. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government expressed strong disapproval, and admonished them not to make biased and fact-distorting statements.

The former Stand News editors could be sentenced up to two years in prison under a 1920s-era sedition law, rarely used in colonial times. If they had been charged under the Article 23 local NatSec law passed earlier this year, it would be up to 10 years.

The most recent Article 23 sedition charge is of two people who allegedly faked a suicide note after an academic apparently killed himself last week. This would be, at best, in grotesquely bad taste. At worst it could (I guess) invite legal trouble if the fabricated document was libellous or attempted to defraud, say by claiming to amend the deceased’s will. (Such fakes are a thing – see here and here.) But the arrests were for ‘seditious intentions’, as the fake note blamed depression over the NatSec Law for the suicide. HKFP adds…

At least around a dozen arrests have been made under Article 23, and among them, police have charged three people. All of them were accused of carrying out acts with “seditious intention.”

They include a man accused of writing “seditious graffiti” on a bus, and another who allegedly wore a t-shirt with a banned protest slogan.

How do police, prosecutors and judges know what someone’s intentions are? If you are caught wearing a mask and carrying a concealed sawn-off shotgun into a bank, they could fairly infer that you were intending to commit a robbery. But how – assuming they can’t read minds – can they detect, and prove, an ‘intention’ to incite hatred of the government or a piece of legislation?

Police were out in force on Saturday’s anniversary of the 8-31 incident (here and here) intercepting anyone carrying flowers in the vicinity of Prince Edward MTR station. Thread on a journalist who was…

…”warmly reminded” … that his shirt showing the silhouette of Lion Rock and phrase “Hong Konger” along with a patch depicting a gas mask was “potentially seditious”. 

What on earth is ‘potentially seditious’? 

The Stand News case ends with both defendants found guilty of conspiring to publish ‘seditious’ material. NatSec Judge Kwok Wai-kin found 10 of 17 articles (listed here) to be seditious – op-eds written by various contributors…

“[Former chief editors Chung and Lam] knew of and agreed with the seditious intention of the articles. They provided Stand News as a publication platform” to incite hatred against Hong Kong and China, he wrote.

Kwok also ruled that Stand News had upheld a “localist” ideology and promoted the notion of “localist autonomy” for Hong Kong.

“It even became a tool to smear and slander the central and [Hong Kong] government” during the 2019 protests, Kwok wrote.

The WSJ reports…

Judge Kwok Wai-kin ruled that during the protests, Stand News “became a tool to smear and vilify” China’s government and the Hong Kong authorities.

…Hong Kong has also beefed up its sedition law as part of a package of national security laws this year, raising the maximum sentence to seven years, or 10 years in cases involving collusion with foreign forces.

…The bulk of the case against the Stand News editors relied on 17 articles, which were mostly about or written by opposition politicians who have since been arrested or gone into exile. The government has offered bounties for some of them, such as former lawmakers Ted Hui and Nathan Law, who now live overseas.

The prosecution later expanded its case to include hundreds more articles. The key question was whether a media outlet, by giving voice to a political opposition that has since been stamped out by a sweeping crackdown, simply informed the public or inflamed it to defy the authorities.

Chung, who agreed to testify at his trial, was questioned over articles that criticized government acts. Because the articles didn’t offer constructive solutions, prosecutors said they weren’t protected by Hong-Kong law that allowed criticism of official acts to correct mistakes.

AP piece on PK Chung.

Other international coverage from the BBC,  CNN, the NYT…

The two veterans of Hong Kong’s long boisterous news media scene didn’t shy away from publishing pro-democracy voices on their Stand News site, even as China cranked up its national security clampdown to silence critics in the city.

Then the police came knocking and, more than two and a half years later, a judge Thursday convicted the two journalists — the former editor in chief of Stand News, Chung Pui-kuen, and his successor, Patrick Lam — of conspiring to publish seditious materials on the now-defunct liberal news outlet. Both face potential prison sentences.

The landmark ruling highlighted how far press freedom has shrunk in the city, where local news outlets already self censor to survive and some foreign news organizations have left or moved out staff amid increasing scrutiny from the authorities.

During the trial, prosecutors characterized news articles and opinion pieces published by the two as biased against the government and a threat to national security. The articles were similar to those Stand News had been publishing for years. 

……The two editors have maintained their innocence. Mr. Chung said in his court testimony that they were operating within journalistic principles, to deliver stories with news value and of public interest.

“We didn’t have a hidden agenda, or any other goals that you couldn’t see,” he said in his testimony at the trial last year. “We saw very important events with a lot of public interest; we only wanted to document them.”

Former colleagues of Mr. Chung described him as a fearless leader and a fair-minded journalist who encouraged employees to seek out pro-Beijing politicians for interviews or opinion articles, even though those requests were regularly declined.

…and the Guardian… 

Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, said the verdicts marked “a dark day for press freedom” in Hong Kong.

…Patten said: “The baseless allegations and verdict of this trial mark a further sinister turn for media freedom in Hong Kong, as it is clear that political commentary and opinion pieces may violate national security.”

Catherine West, the Foreign Office’s Minister for the Indo-Pacific, said on X: “The UK wants Hong Kong to succeed as a truly international city, with the free exchange of opinions and information. Hong Kong authorities should end politicised prosecutions of journalists”.

Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the US state department, said that the verdict “is a direct attack on media freedom and undermines Hong Kong’s once-proud international reputation for openness.”

Stand News faced criticism from authorities but was seen by the population as one of the most credible Hong Kong outlets in 2019, according to surveys.

Statement from Reporters Without Borders, incuding a timeline of the arrests and trial.

The government issues a press release welcoming the decision…

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government spokesman said, “The conviction of all three defendants (i.e. the two editors-in-chief of Stand News, Chung Pui-kuen and Lam Shiu-tung, and the company which operated Stand News, Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Limited) signifies justice being firmly upheld. Any individual or organisation that incites hatred and engages in acts and activities endangering national security can never escape sanctions of the law, and such malicious acts will surely be duly punished.” 

From RTHK…

Speaking to reporters outside the court after the verdict, chief superintendent from the national security unit, Steve Li, said police welcomed the court’s decision.

“When the national security department took the enforcement against the Stand News on December 2021, some people criticised us that we are suppressing the freedom of the speech and the press,” he said.

“But the judge’s verdict has clearly illustrated the necessity and the lawfulness of the enforcement [action] taken on that day.”

Speaking to reporters at another event, Chief Secretary Eric Chan said authorities respected and valued media freedom, which is protected by law.

“If all journalists report based on facts, I think there would not be situations restricting the freedom of the press,” he explained.

HKFP’s story on  on the official response, also mentions the ‘verdict shows necessity’ comment and adds…

Asked outside the court about comments that the case could have consequences for press freedom, [Steve] Li said the verdict allowed the public to know “what problems we think may breach the law.”

“We are not saying what topics or cases cannot be reported on. We are not doing that,” he said in Cantonese. “But if they choose to use a seditious intention while reporting… this cannot be done. This could be sanctioned by the law.”

By contrast, the ‘Dragon Slayers’ terrorism trial had a jury, which found the seven defendants not guilty of the main charge of plotting to use bombs and firearms against police in December 2019, with one found guilty on a separate charge…

[An eighth] defendant, student Cheung Chun-fu, 24, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty in February to one count of possessing explosives, specifically two boxes of firecrackers, and one count of possessing arms without a license for four canisters of pepper spray.

…Under the current rule against double jeopardy, the Department of Justice is not allowed to file an appeal over the jury’s decision of one’s acquittal, to prevent the acquitted defendants from being tried again for the same offense.

The prosecution can leave legal questions arising from the trial to be decided by the Court of Appeal for a judgment that will be binding on future cases. Such judgment, however, will not affect the defendants’ acquittal at the Court of First Instance.

Biased media still exist in Hong Kong. LinguaSinica looks at CY Leung’s online platforms…

Speak Out HK (港人講地) and its parent organization Looop Media (圈媒體) are far from Hong Kong’s best-known media groups. But the online news outfit does enjoy one superlative: in 2019, in its first and only appearance in an annual survey on media reliability by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Speak Out HK was ranked as the least-trusted news site in the whole territory. Across all mediums including print, radio, and television, its poor reputation was surpassed only by the state-run newspapers Ta Kung Pao (大公報) and Wen Wei Po (文匯報).

Strange how long-delayed NatSec trials are finally coming to a head right now.

More HK47 mitigation pleas. Defence lawyers compete to describe how unimportant their clients were, while NatSec judges appear unimpressed…

[Carol – brief bio] Ng said in her own mitigation letter submitted to the court that she joined the primaries purely to “afford our society more satisfied workers so that our society can operate better.” It was never her aim to subvert state power, only to improve labour conditions for workers, she said.

But judge Johnny Chan said the court could not accept that Ng had no intention to break the law, only that she was not a principal offender.

…Representing ex-district councillor Roy Tam, barrister David Ma asked the court to consider Tam a lower-level “other” participant in the conspiracy and, if not, to place him at the lower end of the “active participant” band.

Like Ng, Tam was an “also-ran” candidate, Ma told the court, adding that he came last in the primaries, only receiving half the number of votes of the candidate who finished above him.

Addressing doubts from the judges, Ma said he was not arguing that fewer votes would necessarily mean a shorter sentence. But he asked the court to consider that there was a “spectrum of activeness” across the defendants who had participated in the primaries…

…Former District Councillor Ricky Or’s participation in the conspiracy was “extremely limited,” barrister Richard Yip argued on Wednesday, adding that he had limited influence over the general public.

Judge Alex Lee said in response that Or produced campaign materials and had hired a campaign manager, casting doubt over the idea that the number of votes received by a defendant reflected the extent of their culpability. Or was among those who had signed a declaration to indiscriminately veto the budget, said judge Johnny Chan.

From the SCMP…

[Gladys] Li argued the case was not the worst of its kind as it remained uncertain whether the primary winners, if elected to the Legislative Council, would have actually abused their voting powers to obstruct the government’s financial budgets and paralyse its operations pursuant to a previous agreement.

She warned that if the starting point of the sentence was set too high, the court would have no choice but to mete out even heavier punishments for national security offences such as those involving violence.

Mr Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai, one of three High Court judges overseeing the case, disagreed that the conspiracy was unlikely to succeed, saying that it was not a relevant consideration for sentencing.

Judge Alex Lee Wan-tang added that deterrence was an essential element in penalising national security offences.

And the Stand News verdict is due today. 

The prosecution contended that the defendants could be convicted if the publications were proven to be seditious, regardless of their intent, and that convicting Stand News and its ex-editors would have a negligible impact on press freedom in Hong Kong, compared with the risks the outlet posed to national security.

The defence challenged what it saw as an unfair prosecution, accusing prosecutors of cherry-picking articles and introducing new evidence as the trial unfolded. It said there was no seditious conspiracy since the defendants were legitimate journalists reporting on matters that other news outlets in the city had also covered.

AP has a backgrounder…

Two journalists who led a now-closed Hong Kong online news outlet will hear a verdict in their sedition case on Thursday, in a trial that’s seen as an indicator of press freedom in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.

…During the 2019 anti-government protests, Stand News gained prominence for its live-streaming coverage from the front lines and attracted many democracy supporters for its critical reporting of the authorities.

The city’s secretary for security Chris Tang and its police criticized the outlet, saying some of its reports were “misleading,” while Hong Kong residents surveyed by the researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong rated it among the most credible outlets in the city in 2019.

…The sedition law outlaws the promulgation of seditious publications, among other acts, and defines seditious intent including aiming to incite hatred or contempt against the Chinese central government, the Hong Kong government or the judiciary.

The prosecution accused [former chief editors] Chung and Lam of conspiring to publish and reproduce seditious articles, calling Stand News a political platform.

…The trial was initially expected to last 20 days but ran over to some 50 days.

The government lawyers said some of the articles helped promote “illegal ideologies,” as well as smearing the security law and law enforcement officers.

‘Illegal ideology’ is surely another way of saying ‘thought crime’, right? And is there a law against ‘smearing’?

From the HK47 mitigation pleas. Long Hair…

After judges ruled the group would have created “a constitutional crisis” had they won the election, the defendants have been in mitigation hearings since June to plead for lenient sentences.

But two of the defendants sounded a defiant tone on Tuesday, with veteran activist and ex-lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung — better known as “Long Hair” — telling the court “human rights are higher than political power”.

“‘Power to the people’ is a belief that I have adhered to throughout my life,” the 68-year-old wrote in his mitigation letter.

“Although I am a prisoner today, I have no complaint… I hope Hong Kong people never lose or forget, fight for democracy and uphold justice!”

The letter was published online by the League of Social Democrats, one of Hong Kong’s last remaining opposition parties, which Leung had co-founded.

And former district council member Ng kin-wai…

Ng kin-wai, 28, was one of 47 activists arrested and charged in 2021 with “conspiracy to commit subversion to subvert the state power” for participating in an unofficial poll to select candidates for a 2020 legislative council election.

“I will not apologise for the beliefs and values I share with my voters”, Ng told the court, though he adding that he would shoulder the responsibility for his actions.

The comment prompted one of the presiding judges, Alex Lee, to ask if Ng had “no remorse”.

In response Ng said, “Correct,” and added, “As a politician, I expect myself to be responsible, to do my best, to stay till the last.”

Ng is among the fifth batch of the 45 convicted defendants to make mitigation pleas for a lighter sentence.

The national security law Beijing imposed in 2020 specifies sentences for the offence ranging from three years to life, depending on culpability.

The mitigation hearings began in June, after 14 of the 16 defendants who pleaded not guilty were convicted in May.

Judge Andrew Chan said Ng would be entitled to a concession that would be “significantly less than others”, given his late plea and lack of remorse.

“Today is a mitigation hearing,” Chan added. “Today is not an occasion for you to express your political view.”

Quick reminder: they are being tried for participating in a political exercise – trying to win an election.

Chan Po-ying – Long Hair’s wife – loses an appeal against conviction for soliciting donations to the League of Social Democrats without a permit.

Undaunted by the HK government’s wrathful response to its coverage of the History Museum’s NatSec exhibit, the New York Times has a go at local education officials’ advice that hormone-crazed teens play badminton when they feel carnal desires stirring within them…

A 15-year-old girl and her boyfriend are studying alone together on a hot summer day when she removes her jacket and clings to his shoulder. What should he do?

In Hong Kong, the authorities advise the young man to continue studying or to seek a diversion, including badminton, to avoid premarital sex and other “intimate behaviors.”

Critics, including lawmakers and sex educators, say that the Chinese territory’s new sex education materials are regressive. But top officials are not backing down, and the standoff is getting kind of awkward.

“Is badminton the Hong Kong answer to sexual impulses in schoolchildren?” the South China Morning Post newspaper asked in a headline over the weekend.

Hong Kong teenagers find it all pretty amusing. A few said on social media that the officials behind the policy have their “heads in the clouds.” Others have worked it into sexual slang, talking about “friends with badminton” instead of “friends with benefits.”

…“It is normal for people to have sexual fantasies and desires, but we must recognize that we are the masters of our desires and should think twice before acting, and control our desires instead of being controlled by them,” the document says.

This is perhaps more enlightened than the advice we received as little kiddies at my convent school many years ago: don’t look at yourself when you’re having a bath. But…

It also recommends exercise and other activities that “draw attention away from undesirable activities,” and warns students to dress appropriately and avoid wearing “sexy clothing” that could lead to “visual stimulation.”

(I thought the standard government recommendation on ‘drawing attention from undesirable activities’ was ‘focus on the economy’.)

Young people in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan often use slang to talk about sex, just like their peers around the world. If your date asks if you want to go back to their place to “watch my cat do back-flips,” don’t say you weren’t warned.

Now, thanks to Hong Kong’s Education Bureau, new slang is in play. The sentence “I want to play badminton with you” will never be the same again.

HKFP story here…

The document advises students to avoid premarital sex, describing it as “one form of improper handling of intimate relationships,” and says that society “still considers pre-marital sex as a deviant act and that young people should not have sexual behaviours with others at will.”

There was a time in Hong Kong when people wouldn’t even raise the subject of teen pregnancy out of extreme Confucian-Puritan embarrassment. We could also – with some trepidation – recall that there is a ‘rumour’ that a senior government official back in his student days got his, let’s say youthful, girlfriend in the family way. Circumstantial evidence being vagueness about his now-wife’s date of birth, and we will leave it at that. 

Education authorities find another way to take kids’ minds off deviant unwholesomeness.