Sending money, food from Hong Kong to wanted overseas activists may ‘support their illegal activities,’ Regina Ip says
Hong Kong Free Press
Sending money or food from Hong Kong to eight democrats wanted overseas was akin to “supporting their illegal activities,” Regina Ip, the convenor of government advisory body the Executive Council has said.
When asked by a TVB news host on Sunday whether the arrests of five men last week over alleged national security offences signalled that the government was cracking down on the city’s pro-democracy “yellow economy,” Ip said “maybe not only the yellow economy but the activities that involve sending money overseas.”
Hong Kong’s “yellow economic circle” emerged in 2019 as a way of identifying businesses sympathetic to the protests and unrest.
Citing sources, local media reported that the five men apprehended by national security police last Wednesday and Thursday had worked for an app that promoted pro-democracy businesses and helped support UK-based activist Nathan Law, one of the eight wanted democrats.
“As far as I know, some of the wanted people are very active in the UK,” Ip said on Sunday. “They hold tea parties in areas where many Hongkongers live. On the surface they are Hong Kong-style tea parties, but actually they are designed to brainwash and confuse politicians and to encourage them to condemn and sanction China.”
As of February, 144,500 people had left Hong Kong for the UK in the two years since London launched an emigration scheme for holders of British National (Overseas) passports after Beijing enacted the national security law in the city.
Sending money or any kind of assistance could be considered as support for the self-exiled activists, Ip added. “Sending food to the wanted people for their tea parties may also be supporting their illegal activities and the police should investigate thoroughly and stop these activities.”
Ip also said claiming to be part of the yellow economy may involve risks, adding that these claims did not help with business at shops and restaurants perceived to have a pro-democracy stance.
National security arrests
Four men, aged between 26 and 28, were apprehended last Wednesday in connection with an alleged conspiracy to collude with foreign forces by providing financial support to self-exiled activists. They were also accused of taking part in a “conspiracy to doing acts with seditious intent.”
Photos published by local media outlets showed Ivan Lam, an ex-chairperson of Demosisto, being escorted into a police vehicle outside an industrial building in Kwai Chung. The other three were former Demosisto members William Liu, Li Kai-ching and Arnold Chung, according to local media.
Defunct political party Demosisto was founded in 2016 by Law and high-profile activists Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow. It disbanded in June 2020, on the same day that the Beijing-imposed national security law – which criminalised secession, subversion, foreign collusion and terrorism – came into force.
National security police made a fifth arrest – reportedly of ex-Demosisto member Calvin Chu – at the airport last Thursday. The 24-year-old was also suspected of taking part in a conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.
The implementation of the security law gave police sweeping new powers, alarming democrats, civil society groups and trade partners, as such laws have been used broadly to silence and punish dissidents in China. However, the authorities say it has restored stability and peace to the city.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
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