Hong Kong teenage worker’s U.S. He was detained after planning to seek refuge at the consulate

10/28/2020 USA


Two men and a woman – aged 17 to 21 – were arrested Tuesday in connection with separatist comments on social media, police said.

Student Localism, a one-time pro-independence group, identified the trio on Facebook as its former convener Tony Chung and former members William Chan and Yanni Ho.

According to Friends Hong F Hong Kong, a working organization based in the United Kingdom, who works with Chung, he was arrested in the U.S. before being arrested in Hong Kong. Was planning to seek asylum at the consulate.

All three StudentLocalism members were arrested earlier in July in connection with posts made on social media by a page claiming to represent the group’s international hand.

The Hong Kong branch of the organization said the city had been disbanded after Chinese authorities imposed a national security law on the city, banning secession, sabotage and alliances with foreign forces.

Police accused Chung and others still based in Hong Kong of continuing to advocate for the city’s independence from China, which carries a maximum sentence of three to 10 years or life imprisonment for “serious misconduct.” The accused denied any connection with the alleged separatist posts in question.

Security guards are spotted outside the US Consulate in Hong Kong on October 27, 2020.

A Hong Kong government spokesman told CNN on Wednesday that he would not comment on media reports of the arrests but said “there is no tiff to the so-called ‘political asylum’ for the people of Hong Kong.”

“It should be emphasized that the people of Hong Kong are prosecuted for violations of Hong Kong law regardless of their political beliefs or background. In addition, they are tried by an independent judiciary in accordance with the principle of the rule of law,” he added.

The number of Hong Kongers has been on the rise since the passage of the National Security Act earlier this year. Washington has said it will give preference to Hong Kong refugees, and U.S. politicians are the most vocal in criticizing China’s ongoing crackdown on the city’s autonomy and democratic freedoms.

Asylum for activists in Hong Kong itself would be a big increase, and it could cause diplomatic embarrassment for both Washington and Beijing, possibly with the future of the cons Hong Kong consulate.

CNN U.S. in Hong Kong The Consulate General and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office have reached out to comment.

Under U.S. law, Washington “does not grant asylum abroad on its diplomatic premises.” People who want to claim refugee status have to go to the U.S. to do so. Should be present in While some activists have been protected by the U.S. embassy in Beijing in the past, this is an exceptionally rare occurrence, and each time Washington causes a major political headache for Washington.
In 1989, disgruntled academic Feng Lizi fled to the U.S. embassy in Tiananmen Square following the persecution, where he spent more than a year before Beijing agreed to allow him to leave China. In 2016, legal activist Chen Guangcheng gave the embassy a dramatic break during a visit to Beijing by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after months of detention. U.S. And after tense negotiations between Chinese officials, he too was finally allowed to leave the country.
When the notorious former police chief Wang Liju was arrested in the same year in Chengdu, U.S. Consul took refuge in the Consulate, however, he returned. Wang was eventually sentenced to 15 years in prison on corruption charges.
The difference between an embassy and a consulate can be key. Embassies are protected under international law, and closing or entering one would create a major diplomatic crisis. Consulates, however, are less secure, and countries may order a halt to operations for them, as both the US and China did earlier this year with tight-for-clos closures of respective missions in Houston and Chengdu.
During that incident, after which Washington claimed that China’s Houston consulate was involved in espionage activities, U.S. officials accused Beijing of harboring a fugitive Chinese scientist on a mission to San Francisco. The scientist, Tang Juan, later surrendered to police in California.

Circumstances surrounding Tang’s surrender are unclear, but the U.S. would close the San Francisco consulate if she continued to offer asylum, she was asked out of fear. Similar concerns have been raised in the U.S. Officials may be embarrassed to offer any asylum to dissidents in Hong Kong, the U.S.’s most important mission in Greater China since the Beijing embassy.

During a standoff at the consulate earlier this year, several Chinese state media publications called for the closure of Hong Kong’s consulate, accusing the United States of conducting operations. Beijing seems to be shying away from any major growth right now, given Hong Kong’s economic importance and the number of Americans living in the city, diplomatically and practically, losing Hong Kong’s mission would be a big blow to Washington.

.

Tags

Designed by Tricksfast Solutions
© Copyright 2024, All Rights Reserved