Big Lychee, Various Sectors

From HKFP…

The father of Hong Kong democrat Anna Kwok has been found guilty of handling funds linked to an “absconder” – the first family member of a wanted activist to be convicted of a national security offence.

Kwok Yin-sang, 69, appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday morning, wearing a dark green suit jacket and a respirator mask.

He was accused of attempting to obtain funds from an AIA International life and personal accident insurance policy that belonged to his daughter, Anna Kwok, who lives in the US. In 2023, Hong Kong’s national security police issued her and seven other self-exiled activists an arrest warrant for suspected foreign collusion.

Handling an absconder’s funds is an offence under the city’s homegrown security law, also known as Article 23.

Reuters report…

His daughter, Anna Kwok, helps lead the Washington-based advocacy group Hong Kong Democracy Council, and is one of 34 overseas activists wanted by Hong Kong national security police. She is accused of colluding with foreign forces and police have offered a bounty of HK$1 million ($127,400) for her arrest.

On her Facebook page, Anna Kwok said she is not and has never been the owner of the insurance policy, nor has she exchanged, received, or sought any “funds or other financial assets or economic resources” from her father, her family, or any individual or entity in Hong Kong.

“Today, my father was convicted and remanded in custody simply for being my father,” Anna Kwok said. “This is how the Hong Kong government retaliates against me and my community for our advocacy.”

…During the closing submission, defence lawyer Kwan argued that section 89 and 90 of Article 23 should not apply in a case where a person was simply handling an insurance policy he had purchased a long time ago for his children.

“This … is a form of prosecution based on family ties,” Kwan said.

From the NYT…

“Punishing a 68-year-old father for his daughter’s peaceful activism is an alarming act of collective punishment that has no place under international human rights law,” said Elaine Pearson, the Asia director for Human Rights Watch. She called the conviction “cruel and vindictive.”

…Mr. Kwok’s case is a first for Hong Kong, unlike in mainland China, where family members of political dissidents are routinely punished for their relatives’ perceived crimes. Since China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, the city has seemingly applied mainland-style norms to political cases, activists and scholars say.

…In Mr. Kwok’s case, the authorities have focused on his attempt last year to terminate a life insurance policy he had bought for Ms. Kwok when she was 2.

Mr. Kwok’s lawyers argued that he did not violate the law because the insurance policy technically did not belong to Anna Kwok. They say she had not signed any forms to take over ownership of the policy from her father. The prosecution argued that the policy had been transferred to Ms. Kwok automatically when she turned 18. The policy is worth less than $12,000.

Was he supposed to not cancel the policy? Courts must impose custodial sentences in NatSec cases, so the only question is whether Mr Kwok gets a few days in prison or a year or more (or a more finely calibrated length in between). 

Security Secretary Chris Tang takes issue with the Washington Post…

…denouncing the newspaper’s recent editorial piece as “blatant lies” and “anti-China propaganda.”

The letter, sent February 11, responds to the Post’s February 9 editorial titled “A de facto death sentence for publishing a newspaper,” which criticized the sentencing of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.

Tang accused the Editorial Board of ignoring evidence presented in Lai’s trial and attempting to “undermine the reputation of Hong Kong and our country.”

The security chief defended Lai’s 20-year prison sentence, asserting that Lai and eight defendants were prosecuted not for “publishing a newspaper” but for “serious offence related to endangering national security.”

…“Your claim of a ‘kangaroo court’ is wildly inaccurate and offensive,” Tang wrote in the letter to the Editorial Board of The Washington Post. “Again, I resort to the plain facts: 156 days of fair and impartial public hearings in open court attended by the public, media and observers from around the world; up to 2,220 exhibits as evidence; over 80,000 pages of documents and statements of evidence from 14 prosecution witnesses.”

From Bloomberg…

China signaled greater efforts ahead to protect national security in Hong Kong after the sentencing of Jimmy Lai renewed foreign governments’ calls for the former media mogul’s release.

Beijing’s State Council on Tuesday outlined a vision to strengthen security in key economic pillars of the semi-autonomous Chinese city, naming finance and shipping among areas of focus as it called for a “holistic approach to development and security.”

“Greater attention should be given to security in unconventional areas such as finance, shipping, trade, and the protection of overseas interests,” according to a 2026 white paper published by the information office of China’s cabinet.

…The white paper also called on authorities to improve systems for countering foreign sanctions, intervention and long-arm jurisdiction, without naming any country. “Risk monitoring and early warning systems should be improved to effectively defuse major risks,” it added.

…Beijing has also accused the US of coercing Panama into voiding CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.’s contract to operate two ports near the Panama Canal, which the Hong Kong company has run since 1997. US President Donald Trump has previously vowed to take the strategic waterway “back” 

…Following the sentencing, the British government opened the door for thousands more Hong Kongers to settle in the UK and apply for British citizenship — an expansion it says honors the UK’s “historic commitment” to people in the former British colony.

The Chinese embassy in London has slammed the expansion as “despicable,” urging the UK to cease its “political manipulation” and stop intervening in Hong Kong affairs — or face “bitter consequences.”

Is this a Leninist thing? The more you control, the more paranoid you get about having insufficient control?

CK Hutchison had few problems until it decided to sell off its ports around the world, at which point Beijing insisted that it sell the Panama assets only to a Chinese-linked company. So much for One Country, Two Systems. That confirmed – to Washington at least – suspicions that Beijing wanted influence over those ports, triggering US/Panama moves to override CK’s contract to operate the facilities.

As for the UK’s decision to allow more Hongkongers the right to move to the UK: that is surely a sovereign right of the British government and nothing to do with any other country. If China wants to grant residency to the entire British population, that is its right. The government in London would have no say in the matter. If (say) Botswana offers residency to all Paraguayan teenagers – so what? Where is the ‘despicable political manipulation and intervening in internal affairs’? Unless you believe your citizens are the property of the emperor.

A good AP story on how the Tai Po fire survivors are faring.

Jimmy Lai, age 78, gets 20 years for conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and printing seditious materials. He had been held without bail since end-2020, denied access to his choice of legal counsel, and tried by handpicked national security judges with no jury.

Beijing has detested Lai since at least 1994, when he called Li Peng a ‘son of a turtle’s egg’.

The Collective on the scene outside the court beforehand…

For days, observers had been sleeping in the open while waiting in line. Around 4 a.m., most of those queuing were still asleep. Police tightened restrictions on their movement; anyone needing to leave to use the restroom was searched. A woman who had been queuing outside the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts last Thursday evening was told by officers that she had an Apple Daily keychain on her person … About ten officers then removed the barricades, escorted her into the queuing area, confiscated all her bedding and belongings, and took her to Cheung Sha Wan Police Station for investigation.

HKFP report…

Publisher Cheung Kim-hung received six years and nine months behind bars, associate publisher Chan Pui-man got seven years, and editorial writer Yeung Ching-kee was sentenced to seven years and three months. Meanwhile, editor-in-chief Ryan Law, executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, and editorial writer Fung Wai-kong all received 10-year jail terms.

Kevin Yam says…

By way of comparison, China sentenced leading dissidents Liu Xiaobo to 11 years and Xu Zhiyong to 14 years.

NYT compares Lai’s sentence to those of academic Ilham Tohti, property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang, human rights lawyers and the HK 47…

Jimmy Lai’s 20-year prison sentence, the heaviest penalty handed down for a national security offense in Hong Kong so far, aligns with how the Chinese Communist Party has punished wealthy entrepreneurs and influential academics in the mainland for challenging the state.

Xi Jinping, the most powerful Chinese leader in decades, has waged a far-reaching crackdown on any vestiges of dissent. He has targeted not only human rights activists but also business tycoons, intellectuals and members of the party elite, some of whom have been sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison.

From Luke de Pulford…

Effectively a life sentence for Jimmy Lai. 

For peacefully criticising the Chinese government. 

Samuel Bickett…

A sentence carefully selected to ensure Jimmy dies in prison and is made an example of locally while avoiding international headlines of a life sentence. Petty, insecure dictatorships have to have their bogeyman.

It also gives the authorities ample time – subject to Jimmy Lai’s health – to use his release as a bargaining chip with other countries if the need arises.

RTHK quotes Chief Executive John Lee…

Lee said the 156 days of open trial hearings – during which large amounts of evidence were offered – showed that Lai was a despicable and shameless anti-China mastermind.

The CE said in a statement Lai “has committed numerous heinous crimes, and his evil deeds were beyond measure.”

“The severe sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment imposed on him manifests that the rule of law is upheld and justice is done, and also brings great relief to all,” he added.

Via HKFP, responses from the DAB, NGOs and others, including Regina Ip…

“[His] acts caused significant harm to the country and to Hong Kong, endangering national security. The court noted that around 2019, Jimmy Lai held activities… locally and abroad. Because he is so influential, the damage was grave. I agree with the court’s decision. Jimmy Lai’s crimes were serious, and his sentence should be no less than 10 years.”

The government issues a statement ‘condemning external forces for slandering and smearing court’s sentencing’…

…the western countries, anti-China media, organisations and politicians have used this as a pretext to slander, smear, and attack the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). They have even maliciously disparaged the court’s independent judgement and sentence handed down in accordance with the law. The HKSAR Government firmly opposed and strongly condemned such despicable conduct.

…The HKSAR spokesperson stressed, “In Lai Chee-ying’s case, after 156 days of fair and impartial public hearings, the court has considered the irrefutable evidence of up to 2 220 exhibits, over 80 000 pages of documents and statements of evidence from 14 prosecution witnesses. The court pointed out clearly that Lai Chee-ying was the mastermind of the case. He had manipulated and exploited Apple Daily to poison the society, and repeatedly colluded with external forces to beg for sanctions and hostile activities against the Central Authorities and the HKSAR Government. Even after the enactment of the HKNSL, all the defendants continued with their agreement for some time until after they were arrested by the Police. The court clearly pointed out that Lai Chee-ying’s only intent was to seek the downfall of the Communist Party of China even though the ultimate cost was the sacrifice of the interests of the people of China and the HKSAR. Lai Chee-ying has brought harm to our country and Hong Kong; his evil deeds were beyond measure, and he for sure deserves his punishment after all the harm he has done.”

An SCMP editorial says the trial ‘shows Hong Kong’s rule of law remains robust’…

Lai was found to have led plots to instigate sanctions against Hong Kong and mainland China and to have incited public hatred towards the authorities. This was no ordinary case. He was working to bring chaos in a bid to topple China’s government, posing a threat to national security. What he did to Hong Kong was extremely damaging. Deterrent sentences were required.

(Would a reputable newspaper’s fact-checkers be OK with, say, that third sentence?)

The head of Hong Kong Police national security department raises the possibility of an appeal for an increased sentence.

From Reuters…

Lai’s sentence was enhanced by the fact that he was the “mastermind” and driving force behind “persistent” foreign collusion conspiracies, the judges said.

They cited prosecution evidence that the conspiracies had sought sanctions, blockades and other hostile acts from the U.S. and other countries while involving a web of individuals including Apple Daily staff, activists and foreigners.

…”The harsh 20-year sentence against 78-year-old Jimmy Lai is effectively a death sentence,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. “A sentence of this magnitude is both cruel and profoundly unjust.”

Hong Kong police swiftly played down concerns about Lai’s health. Chief Superintendent Steve Li of the force’s national security department said Lai’s health concerns had been “exaggerated” and added that the tycoon deserved his sentence.

The judges said they were not inclined to give Lai any deduction for his medical condition, age and solitary confinement but acknowledged he would face a “more burdensome” time than other inmates. They cut a month off the sedition sentence and one year each for the collusion charges.

The Guardian…

Jimmy Lai, the media mogul and prominent pro-democracy activist, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong for national security offences, a punishment his daughter said could mean “he will die a martyr behind bars”.

Claire Lai said the sentence was “heartbreakingly cruel” given her 78-year-old father’s declining health, while her brother Sebastien Lai called the sentence “draconian” and “devastating”.

The sentencing is the culmination of a years-long saga that critics say represents Hong Kong’s transformation from a mostly free city to one where dissent is fiercely suppressed by the Chinese Communist party-controlled authorities.

…Human Rights Watch said the length of jail time given to Lai was “effectively a death sentence”.

“A sentence of this magnitude is both cruel and profoundly unjust. Lai’s years of persecution show the Chinese government’s determination to crush independent journalism and silence anyone who dares to criticise the Communist party,” the statement said.

Amnesty International called the case “another grim milestone in Hong Kong’s transformation from a city governed by the rule of law to one ruled by fear”.

Background and report from AP…

Urania Chiu, lecturer in law at Oxford Brookes University, said the case is significant for its broad construction of seditious intent and application of the term “collusion with foreign forces” to certain activities by the media. The implication is particularly alarming for journalists and those working in academia, she said.

“Offering and publishing legitimate critiques of the state, which often involves engagement with international platforms and audiences, may now easily be construed as ‘collusion,’” Chiu said.

The UN Commissioner for Human Rights calls for Lai’s release…

Mr. Türk’s office, OHCHR, said it had reviewed the verdict and was concerned that it criminalised the exercise of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, media freedom and association.

It noted that the ruling relied extensively on conduct that occurred before the NSL came into force, reiterating concerns it had previously raised about the broad scope of the offence of “collusion with external forces” under the NSL.

“Jimmy Lai is a publisher sentenced to 20 years in prison for exercising rights protected under international law,” Mr. Türk said.

“This outcome highlights how the vague and overly broad provisions of Hong Kong’s national security legislation can lead to being interpreted and enforced in violation of Hong Kong’s international human rights obligations. This verdict needs to be promptly quashed as incompatible with international law.”

The BBC’s full account of Jimmy Lai’s rise to success and emergence as a critic of the CCP.

China Digital Times on the idea that Lai asked the US to nuke China…

…the misrepresentation of Lai’s remarks is an unremarkable piece of viral political misinformation. It bears a marked resemblance, though, to the campaign to discredit the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, based on a comment from an interview with Emancipation Monthly editor Jin Zhong on November 27, 1988. Liu is often said to have “advocated” or “prescribed” three centuries under foreign colonization to transform China along the same lines as Hong Kong. In both cases, a punchy quote is taken out of context and used to paint the target as a national traitor willing to see his countrymen enslaved or vaporized by the hostile West.

One last official response: the HK Fires Services Dept uses its Facebook account to express support for the sentence – on grounds of public safety.

Jimmy Lai et al will be sentenced today. Statement from the Committee to Protect Journalists…

“Jimmy Lai’s trial has been nothing but a charade from the start and shows total contempt for Hong Kong laws that are supposed to protect press freedom,” said CPJ Asia-Pacific Director Beh Lih Yi. “Monday’s sentencing will go down in history as Hong Kong’s most shameful act of persecution of journalists and leave an indelible black mark on a city that was once the bastion of press freedom in Asia.”

Lester Shum’s first statement after being released from prison two weeks ago,

An HKFP explainer on Hong Kong’s bus seat-belt law mess. It seems the draft law gazetted in September specified that it would apply only to newly registered buses, and Transport Dept officials mentioned this to lawmakers. Yet in the following months, the department issued several statements saying it – and the HK$5,000 fine – would apply on all buses. No-one in the department or legislature seemed to notice this obvious inconsistency, until a lawyer and former legislator pointed it out. As the article puts it…

The reason for the authorities’ discrepancy was unclear.

I can think of two possible reasons. One is that there are actually two Transport Departments: one that knows what is in new legislation and one that doesn’t. The other is that the top officials in the department knew what the new law said, but wanted to scare everyone into putting on (allegedly unwieldy/uncomfortable) bus seat-belts anyway. 

We can be fairly sure that none of the officials and representatives concerned regularly use buses themselves. Some recent all-patriots’ thoughts and deeds on such matters… New People’s Party lawmaker Judy Chan Ka-pui driving the wrong way on Jaffe Road in Wanchai. District council member Agnes Chau illegally parking (in fact blocking a fire lane) at Shek Lei Estate in Kwai Chung. Liberal Party legislator Peter Shiu suggesting that authorities issue fewer parking tickets at night to encourage people with cars to contribute to the ‘night economy’. Ex-lawmaker Chan Yuen-han proposing the banning of double-decker buses (because they’re ‘colonial’, no less) and of passengers standing on any buses.

Hong Kong’s latest transport strategy prioritizes the expansion of car-parking spaces. Cities like Paris and Madrid are finding that banning cars from downtown areas increases retail sales.

With Bitcoin plummeting, maybe the time is right: a Standard editorial sees trading card games as the next big thing for Hong Kong…

With Pokemon cards having outperformed the S&P 500’s gain since 2004, the global TCG market is projected to grow to US$23.5 billion (HK$ 183.3 billion) by 2030 and Hong Kong stands uniquely positioned to become a regional hub for this burgeoning asset class.

…According to data cited by The Wall Street Journal, Pokemon cards have risen 3,821 percent since 2004, significantly outperforming the S&P 500’s 483 percent gain over the same period. 

Hong Kong’s emergence as a TCG investment hub is not accidental – it’s structural. The city has witnessed a revival of Pokemon cards and other TCGs throughout the city, even transforming an old shopping mall, Smiling Plaza at Cheung Sha Wan, into a destination for card game enthusiasts. 

Like crypto, Pokemon cards do not produce income of any sort. But, unlike digital ‘assets’, trading cards are at least real objects and could in theory have a productive use, such as, um, lighting a fire.

And there’s more. An SCMP op-ed proposes that Hong Kong become a ‘space debris hub’, helping to tackle…

…the so-called Kessler Syndrome, a situation when the amount of space junk reaches a critical tipping point and triggers a cascading wave of destruction that collapses the entire low-Earth-orbit ecosystem for satellites, space stations and space assets. This would destroy the space economy almost overnight.

…Hong Kong must seize the opportunities coming its way. Time is short. We need to react quickly to take advantage of these rapidly emerging opportunities.

We can put ourselves forward to serve China and the global good by hosting – perhaps via an NGO – an international space sustainability hub. This would need top-level endorsement from the central and Hong Kong governments. Such a body could be connected to – but independent from – a similarly needed Hong Kong space office.

I admire the tone of breathless enthusiasm.

Some weekend reading…

Human Rights Watch’s latest report on China…

President Xi Jinping mobilized the government to impose strict ideological conformity and loyalty to him and the Chinese Communist Party. Tibetans, Uyghurs, and other communities with distinct identities, including members of unofficial churches, face the most severe suppression of rights. Government repression of Hong Kong has also escalated.

…Repression has escalated quickly five years since authorities imposed the draconian National Security Law on Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s last active pro-democracy party, the League of Social Democrats, disbanded. For the first time, authorities used the national security law to prosecute a Hong Kong-based family member of a critic based abroad, the pro-democracy leader Anna Kwok. Numerous pro-democracy leaders remain in jail, including Jimmy Lai, founder of the shuttered Apple Daily newspaper.

George Magnus on China’s demographics…

The total fertility rate in 2025 was about 0.9-1. With a slump in fertility and high life expectancy after retirement, China is already the fastest ageing country on Earth and by 2050 it will be significantly older than the United States.

…Gender imbalance has played a significant role. The number of marriages has fallen over a decade, to just over 6 million in 2024, the lowest on record. According to 2024 survey of over 55,000 college students on marriage and parenting, two thirds of women wanted no children or one child only, and 15% were uncertain. The crucial child-bearing age cohort, aged roughly between 20-30 years, accounting for over 60 per cent of births, has fallen from 111 million in 2012 to 73 million last year, and is predicted to fall to 37 million by 2050…

…[One solution] is to raise labour input, by raising immigration, having people work longer, and by raising the participation rate in the workforce of people typically under-represented, namely older people and women. Immigration from abroad into China is and will likely remain so small as to be irrelevant. The government decided in 2025, finally, to raise the low retirement age for men from 60 to 63, and for women from 50 or 55 to 53 or 58, dependent on type of work by 2040. This was a welcome, if still rather timid change.

China Unofficial Archives on Chinese migrating to the US from Latin America, by the author of a book on the subject…

Living in a country that appears so prosperous and flourishing, why are some Chinese people willing to risk their lives and rush toward a foreign country and an unknowable future? In 2022, when I was living in New York and first learned the stories of these Chinese “line-walkers,” this question took root in my heart.

…The three years of China’s strict “Zero-COVID” policy caused the economy to plummet, leading to the bankruptcy of small business owners, the collapse of the real estate market, the decline of all industries, and the desolation of the people’s livelihoods. This immense economic pressure was the primary reason for most interviewees’ decision to walk the line and leave China.

Eco-tourism means piles of trash on beaches and ‘digging up marine creatures’…

Greenpeace campaigner Ha Shun-kuen on Wednesday told a radio programme that at least 22 sites with high ecological value in Hong Kong are not protected by the city’s environmental ordinances because they lie outside designated country parks and marine parks.

…The sites include Sharp Island in Sai Kung, a snorkelling hotspot which was thronged by thousands of tourists during China’s National Day holiday last October. Many were filmed trampling on coral and digging up marine creatures, sparking concerns about ecological protection.

…Hong Kong’s natural attractions have seen large crowds during holidays, with viral videos showing poor hygiene at the sites and problematic behaviour that could damage the environment, leading to overtourism concerns.

Can’t they go to Hainan to do this? Maybe they do.

Via Twitter – AI videos of very young white kids insisting the Senkaku Islands are Chinese.

New Republic on how online activist movements in China such as ‘Occupy the Men’s Bathroom’ led to change – until the state perfected censorship techniques, with mention of further developments in Hong Kong…

The result is a choreography of threats and capitulation, a pas de deux between state and citizen. The number of active websites in China shrank by roughly a third between 2017 and 2023, to about 3.9 million—fewer sites than exist in Italian and a fraction of the Japanese web, even though these languages have far fewer speakers.

Hong Kong offers a glimpse of what happens when that dance is imposed all at once on a previously free society…

…For journalists like Allan Au, a meticulous columnist and lecturer in journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the new order arrived as a shock. Au had spent decades in Hong Kong’s media, at the TV network TVB, where I was his colleague, then as a popular host at RTHK, before being dismissed in 2021 as the government reined in the station. He continued to write sharp commentaries for outlets including Stand News, the kind of journalism that once felt safe in Hong Kong, on broadcasters’ eroding independence and how the creeping normalization of self-censorship was hollowing out the city’s press. In April 2022, national security police arrived at his home before dawn and arrested him for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications.” The message was unmistakable: Words that had once been part of ordinary argument were now criminal. Au was forced to take a leave from his teaching post and placed under restrictive bail conditions that effectively bar him from leaving Hong Kong; his passport was confiscated, and the sedition charge hangs over him like a suspended sentence.

From ASPI Strategist, how Chinese authorities allegedly use millions of fake social media accounts to flood platforms with spam, including porn, to swamp content it doesn’t like…

During 2022 protests over Covid-zero, Chinese-language users on Twitter repeatedly complained that searches for city names and protest-related terms were being overwhelmed by pornographic and gambling spam, burying footage and first-hand accounts. At the time, it was unclear whether this reflected a coordinated censorship tactic or opportunistic spam exploiting trending keywords.

…[X head of product Nikita] Bier’s remarks suggest that X now interprets this activity as deliberate state-level information denial: censorship by saturation rather than removal. What stands out is the platform’s response. When users and researchers raised detailed questions at the time, Twitter offered no public explanation. Years later, X has instead opted for an executive tweet asserting intent and scale without evidence, context, or structured disclosure.

China Digital Times on the scale of Beijing’s military purges…

Zhang and Liu are just the latest senior military officers to fall. At The New York Times, Chris Buckley highlighted a report last November from Asia Society’s Neil Thomas and Lobsang Tsering, which stated: “Of 44 uniformed officers selected to the [Party’s] Central Committee in 2022, 29 have either been purged or are missing, leaving a political survival rate of only 34.1% for China’s top generals. Lower-ranking officers fared only slightly better: seven of 23 military alternates, or 30.4%, are also in trouble.”

From Jamestown, a comparative analysis of official announcements on the purges of Zhang Youxia and of earlier top military officers…

Official statements point to disagreements with Xi Jinping over PLA development and training, and even instances of open resistance to his directives, as the cause of the generals’ downfall.

…while both cases cited damage to the PLA’s “political ecology” (政治生态), Zhang was additionally described as causing “severe damage to the military’s political awareness” (政治建军). This wording suggests that Zhang did not prioritize political loyalty as the guiding principle of military building. Given the absence of major personal corruption allegations, the core issue likely involved placing military effectiveness above political control.

From HKFP, more on Security Secretary Chris Tang’s ‘soft resistance’ comments…

“Now that we have laws in place, they might be afraid of [committing] officially illegal acts,” Tang said, referring to the city’s national security legislation: both the Beijing-imposed national security law and the locally enacted Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, known colloquially as Article 23.

“So they may think that they can skirt the law, that they’ll be fine if they spread hatred. But these are still all illegal acts,” he said without elaborating. He also did not mention whether the authorities had taken action against those people.

So ‘soft resistance’ is an unofficially illegal act?

Tang also said on Friday that some Hongkongers who had joined the Ukrainian military hoped to use their training against the city’s authorities.

“Our investigations have found that part of their intention is to receive training there and, when they return to Hong Kong, continue their resistance against the local government,” Tang said, without explaining further.

Maybe he should take a vacation.

A WSJ editorial…

Dictatorships rewrite the past to control the present, and so it goes in Hong Kong as its former British legal system becomes a replica of China’s. This month three Hong Kong citizens went on trial for the alleged crime of organizing candlelit vigils to remember the 1989 Chinese massacre at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

For three decades following that Communist slaughter of unarmed Chinese, Hong Kong was the only place on Chinese soil where that crime was publicly remembered. But starting in 2020 any public display of remembrance, however quiet and nonviolent, was banned. Chow Hang-tung, Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan face up to a decade in prison for the crime of memory.

HKFP reports on the latest in the HK Alliance trial…

Two Tiananmen vigil activists facing national security charges persisted with their long-standing advocacy for democracy in China, with one doing so despite a warning from a Beijing official, a Hong Kong court has heard.

Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung are standing trial for “inciting subversion” under the Beijing-imposed national security law, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

…On Monday, prosecutors finished playing footage of speeches made by the pair at protests and in media interviews, highlighting to the court their comments relating to the Alliance’s advocacy of “ending one-party rule” in China.

Advocacy. Words. That’s it.

A comment yesterday on the short-lived bus safety law…

Just install the wretched seat belts and let people decide whether they want to use them or not (they do not).

And warn people that if they are injured in an accident while not buckled up, they will be billed for the EMS/public hospital treatment they receive. It would be an interesting experiment.

Security Secretary Chris Tang outlines four threats to national security, notably ‘soft resistance’, which he describes as…

…people [using] fake news or information to incite dissatisfaction against the Hong Kong government or stir up conflict among residents, he said.

“This is extremely harmful,” Tang said. “Soft resistance uses problems that seem to be insignificant, simple societal or livelihood issues, where fake news or information is used to stir discontent towards the government.”

The security chief cited the example of the Wang Fuk Court blaze, in which some falsely claimed that authorities had prepared to deploy riot police against the estate’s residents or that first responders did not have enough protective equipment.

“You can see that with any societal topic, there will be some people hoping to stir up conflicts around them,” he said, urging residents to listen to government clarifications and seek out facts.

Would this be a problem if people had more trust in the government, all-patriot lawmakers and pro-government media to begin with? Why don’t they?

Other threats to national security, he said, included the use of sanctions, ‘fugitives calling for Hong Kong independence’ and domestic terrorism such as…

…the groups “Returning Valiant” and “Dragon Slayer Brigade”, with the latter behind a thwarted 2019 bomb plot targeting Hong Kong police.

His remarks came just a day after he told the city’s newest cohort of police officers that they would need “iron bones” in the face of unrelenting “oppression by hostile foreign forces”.

Or – just write out more parking tickets.

Pro-Beijing elder Tam Yiu-chung speaks out against what we might call ‘soft resistance’ in LegCo…

Speaking on a TV programme, Tam said Beijing’s hope is for the three branches of government to co-operate and work towards the same goal.

“The branches should work together within the same framework, avoiding mutual attacks and smear campaigns. They should be actively supporting and co-operating with each other throughout the process,” he said.

“Monitoring still exists in the system, but Legco must not overstep its boundaries – which is replacing the executive branch.

‘Still exists’? Has anyone amended the Basic Law while we weren’t looking? It’s all there in Articles 66-79.

Mable is unable. To enforce the new seat-belts-on-buses law, that is…

The Hong Kong transport chief has announced that a controversial law requiring bus passengers to fasten their seat belts will be “repealed as soon as possible” due to a “technical shortcoming” in the provision.

…The abrupt reversal comes just five days after the new law was implemented, sparking widespread public backlash. Under the law, bus passengers not wearing a seat belt risk a maximum fine of HK$5,000 and up to three months in prison.

Former lawmaker Doreen Kong wrote on Facebook on Thursday that, according to the provision’s wording, the rule appeared to apply only to buses registered after the law took effect, meaning passengers on older buses were not required to wear seat belts.

…The transport minister previously said on Sunday that the government would focus on public education rather than harsh law enforcement during the initial stages of the new regulation, striking a balance between “empathy, reason, and law.”

So the legal drafters, policy bureau and lawmakers screwed up? Gold Bauhinia Medals all round! Alternatively, maybe the wording is just a bit slapdash or ambiguous. (I’m not qualified to say/can’t be bothered to read it.) If that were the case, this looks more like a panicky retreat in the face of a pissed-off public. The whole exercise didn’t seem to have incorporated views from people who actually ride buses – ie pretty much everyone not in the government.

Oddly, ‘public opinion’ counts when it comes to private cars…

The proposal to charge a border construction fee on private cars leaving via land checkpoints has been dropped after public opposition.

…Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said the government carefully considered diverse views and decided not to proceed at this stage.

The 2025 Budget suggested studying a fee—estimated at HK$200 per car—to generate about HK$1 billion annually from departing private cars at land border control points. Buses and goods vehicles would be exempt.

The idea faced strong backlash over cost, impact on cross-boundary travel for residents and businesses, and potential harm to integration with national development.

A car toll harms ‘integration with national development’?

The Standard gives Raphael Hui a rousing send-off, lauding his role in the HK$100 billion market intervention in 1997 and his achievement in getting to be Chief Secretary a few years later. It also allows that…

…he was involved in the Sun Hung Kai probe, the city’s biggest-ever corruption case. Hui was then arrested in March 2012 and charged with misconduct in public office for allegedly accepting multiple payments and unsecured loans…

…He was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison and ordered to return HK$11.182 million in bribes.

…Hui was also reportedly spending HK$210,000 on a single French meal, HK$2 million on records over several years, and approximately HK$7 million on expensive wines. He also disclosed in court that he paid HK$8.5 million to his Shanghai mistress.

A former UK Solicitor-General writes in the (paywalled) London Times on Jimmy Lai…

…on December 15, 2025, Jimmy Lai, a businessman, media owner and democracy campaigner, was convicted of sedition and crimes against national security in Hong Kong. The British citizen’s case symbolises the end of an acceptable version of the rule of law in that once respected jurisdiction.

Wrongly arrested, arbitrarily imprisoned, tried on evidence possibly extracted by torture and then convicted for nothing more than what he thought, said and wrote, Lai has been the victim of a political prosecution leading to a political conviction. 

…On almost all of the 855 pages of the judgment convicting Lai there is a reference to his antipathy towards China and the Chinese Communist Party and his support for the peaceful pro-democracy movement. That these opinions are used as the basis of a criminal conviction shows how far towards tyranny Hong Kong has already travelled.

Lingua Sinica reports on RTHK…

These moves [ending of Letter from Hong Kong and others], following years of heavy-handed management that saw programs canceled, or pulled hours before airing, and sensitive episodes scrubbed from schedules and archives, mark RTHK’s continued retreat on the programming side from its role as a public broadcaster — and increasingly, its integration into the orbit of China’s state media.

The latter shift was crystal clear this month as Hong Kong’s director of broadcasting, Angelina Kwan Yuen-yee (關婉儀), who oversees RTHK, led a delegation to Beijing and Tianjin. She met with officials from China Media Group (CMG) and the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) — both directly under the Central Propaganda Department … [and] said, [RTHK] must “tell the national story and the Hong Kong story well.”

…Even the memory of RTHK’s fearlessness and independence has become a matter of sensitivity. In 2023, the network quietly removed a 34-year-old letter of gratitude from its newsroom, which had honored journalists for their reporting on the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Once willing to confront sensitive truths, RTHK has now fully retreated from its public mission

According to Bloomberg, Blackstone is in talks to become New World’s biggest shareholder, with the Cheng family possibly losing control of the company…

The move also highlights Blackstone’s focus on acquiring value-rich assets in stressed markets and scaling platforms, with the deal handing it control of a large portfolio of malls and office towers.

It’s not like Hong Kong has a shortage of malls and office towers. I guess it depends on what price they’re offering. The company is desperate.

Bearing one or more of the above items in mind – Metaphor of the Week: ‘severely decomposed whale carcass believed to have died [sic] for some time has been found on the shores of Sai Kung’.

From China Unofficial Archives, a plea for accountability for the Wuhan/China Covid cover-up. It’s astonishing that governments, scientists and commentators around the world have barely mentioned Chinese leaders’ role in allowing the disease to spread globally and cause millions of deaths and trillions of dollars worth of economic disruption. Conveniently for Beijing, public attention on the issue has been distracted by irrelevant click-bait ‘lab-leak’ conspiracy theories…

The COVID-19 pandemic eventually spread from China to the entire world. According to public data from the World Health Organization (WHO), by March 19, 2020—nearly two months after the Wuhan lockdown began—the virus had reached over 150 countries and regions, and the number of global cases far exceeded those within China. This rare and massive pandemic profoundly reshaped global economics and politics…

…Looking back, it is evident that the Chinese government provided false information and inaccurate data at the start of the pandemic, which severely misled the WHO and foreign governments. Dr. Gauden Galea, the WHO representative in China at the time, noted that the WHO was entirely dependent on information reported by China—including the critical question of human-to-human transmission—and therefore failed to issue timely warnings. Deborah Birx, a leader of the U.S. coronavirus task force, remarked that the medical community interpreted Chinese data to mean the situation was serious but manageable, not a potential global pandemic.

When Wuhan was locked down on January 23, some argued that the world should have understood the gravity of the situation then. However, this ignores the fact that the Chinese government’s propaganda at the time insisted the lockdown was a massive sacrifice that had contained the virus within China, buying the world time while overseas cases remained under 1%. This narrative continued to mislead the international community. Even on January 24, The Lancet editor Richard Horton stated there was no need to panic, and the WHO advised against travel restrictions. When the U.S. government announced a flight ban in late January, China denounced the move as “unkind.” The world was effectively blinded by a combination of flawed data and state propaganda.

China itself was one of the biggest victims of official secretiveness at the beginning of the outbreak.

…Extrapolating from … leaked figures, the number of excess deaths in China during the biggest wave from late 2022 to early 2023 was at least 4 million, and perhaps as high as 5.95 million. When combined with deaths from the preceding three years, the total represents a staggering loss of life that likely ranks among the highest in the world.

A longish ‘alternative view of China’s declining birth rate’ by a Chinese single mother in Canada.

New Republic on the Slovenian hooker movie…

The documentary detailing the first lady’s return to the White House is projected to make just $1 million in its first week. While documentaries generally do worse at the box office, the sheer amount of money Amazon spent—$40 million for the rights, $35 million for an aggressive marketing blitz—and the constant stream of Truth Social posts from President Trump make this a particularly pitiful showing.

Melania’s early failure comes as a new report from Rolling Stone details serious labor issues behind the scenes and a whopping two-thirds of the film’s staff requesting not to be credited at the end of the film. Director Brett Ratner, who made headlines after six women accused him of sexual assault and harassment during the #MeToo movement in 2017, was perhaps the most loathed person on set.