Online game-cum-NatSec threat Reversed Front: Bonfire tops the Hong Kong Google Trends search-monitoring tool after the police issue a stern warning against downloading or supporting it. (Actually, the HKFP screenshot shows that if you add Chinese and English searches for the HK Observatory together, they come out ahead – so maybe the government can take some comfort from beating the secessionist app. Though there’s a tropical cyclone signal up.)
It’s almost as if the authorities want people to download the hitherto unheard-of game in order to keep the NatSec threats coming.
Another government press release – this one…
…strongly [condemns and opposes] some Western countries, anti-China organisations and anti-China politicians, etc., for making erroneous slanders and smears on the case of Joshua Wong Chi-fung involving the Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL) and the HKSAR’s work on safeguarding national security, totally disregarding the spirit of the rule of law.
A spokesman for the HKSAR Government said, “As the legal proceedings of the case involving Joshua Wong Chi-fung are still ongoing, it is inappropriate for any person to comment on the details of the case. The HKSAR Government strongly urges these Western countries, anti-China organisations and anti-China politicians to immediately stop interfering in the HKSAR’s internal affairs and the independent exercise of judicial power by the courts of the HKSAR.
Reuters looks at the new national security conditions applied to food and other businesses licences…
Critics see the move as targeting the Asian financial hub’s many businesses, including cafes and restaurants, that have displayed posters, symbols or images expressing solidarity with its embattled pro-democracy movement.
Numbering in the hundreds, and sometimes called “conscience-driven businesses”, they face growing pressure from authorities, such as greater tax scrutiny and fire safety and customs checks, at a time when many reel from an economic and retail downturn.
“Food and environmental hygiene officers … should place national security as the most important consideration and make appropriate assessments,” John Lee told reporters.
From a couple of years ago, but still relevant: thoughts on the June 12 anniversary.
“the HKSAR Government strongly urges these Western countries, anti-China organisations and anti-China politicians to immediately stop interfering in the HKSAR’s internal affairs”
If only the HKSAR government would stop interfering, eg making life more difficult for food businesses when they are already closing down left, right and centre.
“As the legal proceedings of the case involving Joshua Wong Chi-fung are still ongoing, it is inappropriate for any person to comment on the details of the case.”
Surely that’s only relevant for trials by jury?
Also the standards of English have slipped markedly — they have mistakenly added a comma here:
“the HKSAR’s work on safeguarding national security, totally disregarding the spirit of the rule of law.”
If I were Joshua Wong’s defence lawyer, I would zoom in on the “persons unknown” he is accused of conspiring with. If the prosecution, with all the resources of Hong Kong’s national security apparatus behind them, can’t find out who they are, how do we know they actually exist?
Surely that’s only relevant for trials by jury?
No. All matters before a court.
@asiaseen
De jure, for sure, but de facto, given the plaintiff in the case has hired, chosen and is paying the judges salaries, I reckon external comments are not going to sway them much — an unpaid jury might be a different matter.
@JD Isn’t meeting with NGOs, foreign diplomats, and maybe even chambers of commerce an indictable offence under the law? Surely as it’s written anyone with a foreign passport is a foreigner with whom one could collude?
One marvels at the utter stupidity of supposedly educated people talking about the wording of laws in a lawless society. Day labourers are more clued in to reality of power in modern Hong Kong than these fools.
Hong Kong is the place of opportunities. If there’s any place in this world that you want to come to, to be able to make it big, or to go after your dreams, it’s Hong Kong
Wooo, wooo, wooo-oh
Barbara Streisand
Mean spirited, but wrong. Ad hominem claptrap always is. Authoritarianism is based on law, not lawlessness. Any secondary school student knows this. To not understand the concept of rule by law should disqualify someone from public discourse – if not by embarrassment than by shunning. HK is not a lawless state, it’s the opposite. Turn off the social media and English language TV news and pick up a book. Also, be nicer. You’ll get an exchange with people smarter than you in the comment sections, instead of one more public spanking.