In April, a 22-year-old waiter was charged with sedition. Prosecutors now seek to increase the charge to inciting subversion. Specifically that he…
…incited others to “organise, plan, commit or participate in… overthrowing the body of central power of the People’s Republic of China or the body of power of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.”
How? Through posts on Twitter and Instagram.
And a 15-year-old is among four people arrested for allegedly conspiring to subvert state power as part of a group founded in Taiwan last November…
Police … found “a proposal urging the US to draft a plan for the rescue of political prisoners in Hong Kong, as well as flags that signify the secession of the country, including those for the independence of Hong Kong, Tibet, Guangdong, and Xinjiang,” [NatSec Police chief Steve] Li said in Cantonese.
In February, the organisation held an online press conference in Taipei, during which its members outlined the group’s action plan, including the “obliteration” of the Chinese Communist Party and the “liberation” of Hong Kong, he said.
It’s called the Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union. Never heard of it…
The group’s Facebook page had 76 followers and was last updated on Tuesday, according to an HKFP search at 5pm on Thursday.
The Standard has pix of their flags…
Li described the alleged offenses as “extremely serious,” carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, and highlighted that the youngest arrestee is only aged 15.
“[He] was not even 10 years old during ‘black violence’ (2019 social unrest). Why would these people participate? In addition to the influence of incitement, I believe the responsibility falls heavily on parents.”
He urged parents to monitor their children’s social circles and online activities, emphasizing that acts endangering national security will be severely punished.
Brian Hioe of New Bloom looks at the story from a Taiwan angle…
Examining the presumed social media presence of the group, one notes that it has less than 100 likes on Facebook and abbreviates the name of “Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union” as “DIU,” a Cantonese curse word. Following the arrests, the organization claims that it will keep on fighting.
One notes that the group mostly seems to consist of very young individuals. Furthermore, the claim that individuals between the ages of 15 to 47 were part of the organization is unusual, in that this would mean that a seemingly unserious organization had members who were three times the age of other members. The group styles itself as a political party and lists the names of members, as well as displaying their photos.
…Hong Kong authorities have claimed that the arrests show how the impact of the 2019 protests continues to affect a young generation of Hongkongers more than six years later. At the same time, it generally appears that the Hong Kong government is seeking to target a group of unserious kids while framing it as a serious act of terrorism.
Inter-Press Service article on ‘the silencing of Hong Kong’…
Joshua Wong sits in a maximum-security prison cell, knowing the Hong Kong authorities are determined to silence him forever. On 6 June, police arrived at Stanley Prison bringing fresh charges that could see the high-profile democracy campaigner imprisoned for life. This is the reality of Hong Kong: even when behind bars, activists can be considered too dangerous ever to be freed.
…Last year, the Hong Kong authorities gave themselves still more powers to suppress dissent by passing another law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. Already, police have used the new law to arrest over 300 people, including for such trivial offences as wearing T-shirts with protest slogans.
From NYT via (for some reason) the Deccan Herald – Chinese police detain writers of ‘Boy’s Love’ erotic fiction…
The graduate student in southern China wrote the romance novel in her spare time, self-publishing it online. In 75 chapters, it followed two male protagonists through a love affair that included, at times, steamy sexual encounters. It earned her less than $400, from readers who paid to access it.
Now, it could bring her a criminal conviction.
Across China, authorities have been interrogating dozens of writers — many of them young women — who published gay erotic novels online, in what appears to be the largest police roundup of its kind to be the largest police roundup of its kind to date.
…As the genre grew more popular, state media began to denounce it as “vulgar,” claiming that the gay storylines could distort young readers’ sexual orientations.
Maybe they should rename it ‘Zombie Boy’s Love’.
For lovers of ham – cartoon of the week.
If that doesn’t scare the shit out of middle class parents, not much will. Primary schools post the results of where their students are accepted for secondary study. Anecdotally, ‘overseas’ make up +/-10% of all results I can find in Central Western District, and much more in the ‘elite’ (read English language) primary schools. Anyone with the cash on-hand or access to credit is scrambling to get their kids out before they hit their teens. As people that age say, this town is cooked socially. As the ruling class notes, the stock market is up. We’re back, baby.
The dystopian absurdity multiplies.
I suppose the one positive we can take from this is that they are, apparently, not planning to douse ‘collaborators’ in petrol and then set them on fire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immolation_of_Lee_Chi-cheung#:
As for asking the Americans to intervene, some people here are deluded. Presently, the US Government is staggering from one crisis to another (Ukraine, Israel, civil unrest, hollowed out manufacturing base, tariffs pushback, collapsing tourism industry, Epstein List and a MAGA rebellion, Elon Musk fallout etc.). The last thing it needs to be doing is devoting mental energy and resources to a bunch of pesky foreigners, many of whom are comfortably off, on the opposite side of a rather large ocean.
Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union? That’s different than the Popular People’s Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union- he’s over there.
and different as well to the HK Parents and Kids Democratic Intependence Union – splitters!
@Reactor #4
The U.S. is staggering from one success to another these days.
However, you are right about one thing: President Trump opposes getting the U.S. entangled in regime-change wars, and he believes a society must fight for its own freedom before calling on the U.S. to obtain it for them.
Reactionary POS: That is the most obscene false equivalency in recorded history.
May you have a cancer-filled day.
I agree with Steve.
You are always a sack of shit Reactor #4