Innocent until proven guilty?

Hong Kong’s Security Secretary says Jimmy Lai’s forthcoming trial will show how bad he is and predicts ‘smearing’ of Hong Kong when the trial takes place…

He said fresh attacks by foreign politicians were also likely to target the local efforts to outlaw more national security offences under Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, as the city government aims to complete the legislation by next year.

“I’m sure they will make use of this as another excuse to smear our government and to smear our country … It’s a must. It’s anticipated,” he said.

He lamented that the Hong Kong government’s counter efforts to set the record straight for the overseas audience on its national security safeguards had been made very difficult because “a lot of those international forums” have been “manipulated by the United States and its allies.”

“They’ll make use of every opportunity to smear Hong Kong,” he said. “When you look back, every two or three months, there will be a certain report from the US, from the UK, talking about [how] there’s no freedoms in Hong Kong. And now you can say whatever you want, right?”

He says he can’t comment on proposed measures against ‘fake news’ because it comes under the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau.

On cue, overseas Catholic clergy call for Lai’s release.

Samuel Bickett piece on the HK government’s reaction to the proposed US bill to sanction officials, judges and prosecutors. (Might need a VPN or something to access from Hong Kong.)

Spotted by David Webb – Tung Chee-hwa’s Our Hong Kong Foundation think-tank issues a press release that looks pretty much dictated by Mainland officials, bluntly declaring the group’s loyalty to Beijing. For context, recall that the organization is rooted in a very pre-2019 tycoon/bureaucrat and international orientation, and leading figures were staunch supporters of Carrie Lam – the one thing both protestors and today’s NSL-order establishment can agree about. OHKF chair Bernard Chan said…

…that what [HK and Macau Affairs] Director Xia said had helped us better understand the international situation that Hong Kong finds itself in, particularly to clearly discern the anti-China forces in the US and the West who are sparing no efforts to interfere and disrupt the implementation of “One Country Two Systems”. They do so not because we have done anything wrong but because our country and Hong Kong have done everything right and are developing well. Even if we compromise and back down they will not stop smearing Hong Kong and China. This is why we must stand united, be self-reliant, and fight hard. The difficulties Hong Kong is facing are all transitory. We deeply feel the confidence of [the] Central People’s Government in Hong Kong’s development. 

Not gloating or anything – the Straits Times reports on companies leaving Hong Kong for Singapore, despite the former’s attempts to push itself as a ‘headquarters economy’. Examples include DHL, FedEx, BAT and several banks. While some companies are openly quitting Hong Kong…

…more enterprises have been taking a subtler route, discreetly moving large parts of their staff and operations elsewhere and redefining what a head office means.

While the number of global companies with regional headquarters in Hong Kong has fallen some 8.4 per cent since 2019, the number of staff engaged by such firms has dropped by a whopping 30 per cent in the same period, according to official data.

…“Singapore controls its own destiny (while) Hong Kong’s destiny will be shaped by Beijing, with all the benefits, opportunities and challenges that that implies,” said Mr [think-tank member Curtis] Chin…

I don’t remember possible resurgence of Cantonese separatism being on anyone’s predictions for China in 2023. But after re-enacting a 1920s-era debate about federalism…

…the (Guangzhou Lingnan model UN] group was suspected of carrying out “illegal activities” and training people to debate “sensitive topics.”