Hong Kong activists seek US help
United States
Activists involved in the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have appealed to US lawmakers to support their fight, by banning exports of American police equipment being used against demonstrators, and by more closely monitoring Chinese efforts to undermine civil liberties in the city.
The activists, including several young people who have emerged as prominent figures in a leaderless movement, testified yesterday before a US government commission set up by Congress to monitor human rights in China.
Republicans and Democrats on the Congressional-executive Commission on China expressed their support for the protests, which began in June with a since-withdrawn bill to extradite people arrested in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory to China for prosecution.
Under US law, the territory of Hong Kong receives special treatment in matters of trade, customs, sanctions enforcement, law enforcement cooperation and more. China has benefited from this, but US lawmakers believe it has also used it to evade US export controls and sanctions.
Earlier this month, Republican and Democrat members of the House of Representatives put forward legislation that would block US company exports of police weapons and equipment to Hong Kong.
Joshua Wong, a Hong Kong activist who has been jailed multiple times, told lawmakers that Hong Kong was a ‘‘police state’’ where every demonstration was automatically declared an illegal assembly, resulting in violent police arrests. Protesters are continuing to gather amid a mounting Chinese military presence across the border.
‘‘The present state of affairs reveals Beijing’s utter inability to understand, let alone govern, a free society,’’ Wong said.
Activist Sunny Cheung told lawmakers that young protesters faced riot police carrying letters with their last will.
‘‘They believe the only limits to their freedom are their deaths. We fight for freedom from a sense of duty and dignity.’’
Denise Ho, a Hong Kong-based pop artist who has testified on the issue before the United Nations, said many Hong Kong artists as well as companies and institutions in nations like Australia and Canada had backed down from supporting the protesters because of intimidation from China.
China has also used social media campaigns, cyberattacks and technology to target protesters and present them as the problem to the West.
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, derided Western politicians for meeting with Hong Kong ‘‘separatists’’.
‘‘Hong Kong is China’s internal affair,’’ she said. ‘‘No foreign government, organisation or individual can interfere. We advise them to . . . pull out their dirty hands from Hong Kong.’’
–AP