The 19th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule comes with a reminder of the stark contrast between the world within and without its border.
Thousands of residents marched in protest on the anniversary in defiance of Chinese authorities over the abductions of several Hong Kong booksellers.
Pro-democracy lawmaker, Cyd Ho, said at the rally that “this is a very grave threat to the safety of Hong Kong residents that an unknown force is spying on people. The Hong Kong government has to follow up with the central government on what’s really happening behind the scenes.”
The situation has been seething over the past year in reaction to the disappearances of five booksellers who bought and sold titles critical of Chinese leaders. One of the detainees, Lam Wing-kee, was held for eight months by Chinese agents and released last month. Upon release he criticized Beijing for “violating Hong Kong’s rights” through illegal cross-border enforcement operations, raising fears of Communist Party rulers in Beijing eroding the so-called “one country, two systems” formula which is supposed to grant Hong Kong a high degree of freedom and autonomy since its transition from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
“If I broke Chinese laws they can sue me, instead, the Chinese government grabbed me silently when I crossed the border.”
The 61-year-old bookseller said that he was picked up at the border near Shenzhen before being blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken by train 13 hours to the port city of Ningbo, where he was forced to sign a contract stating he would not contact his family nor hire a lawyer, and was then interrogated for his role at his bookstore. “We don’t need to argue over it”, he was told, because a “special investigation unit” would be handling his case.
He was locked in a small room under 24-hour watch and told to memorize a scripted response before being allowed to return to Hong Kong by authorities to retrieve a hard-drive that supposedly contained information about the dissidents and their customers.
Lam was scheduled to lead the July 1 anniversary event but cancelled due to safety concerns after being followed by two unknown strangers, a lawmaker said.
In defense of the actions, Wang Guangya, who heads the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing, said the booksellers were the ones who had “destroyed” the one country, two systems law by publishing books which are banned in mainland China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, said in a speech on Friday that “no matter what the difficulties and challenges, our confidence and determination towards one country, two systems will not waver”, and added that Hong Kong would continue to enjoy a high degree of autonomy and that Beijing would strictly adhere to the law.
The protests are a foreshadowing of what may come when citywide legislative elections are held in September.
A group of activists are planning an evening “black mask” protest outside of China’s main Liaison Office. The group’s focus is Hong Kong independence. Their 79-day “umbrella revolution” in 2014 demanding Beijing allow full democracy in Hong Kong brought chaos to the streets.
China today attempted to deflect global criticism over the kidnapping and torture of the booksellers by mounting a sharp attack on the CIA’s brutal interrogation techniques in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Former presidential hopeful, Marco Rubio, and Rep. Chris Smith, who jointly chair the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said Lam’s account may have only confirmed what was widely suspected but was nonetheless important.
Sources: Business Insider, Reuters, SenegalActu
Photo: Bobby Yip/Reuters
© 2016 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions
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