Don’t say HK govt only focuses on national security 

Hong Kong authorities offer HK$1 million bounties on another five overseas activists, including Joey Siu – who, as a US citizen, seems to be wanted for colluding with her own government – and former UK consulate staffer Simon Cheng. Standard report.

Apparently anticipating criticism, both the Hong Kong government and its Security Bureau issue statements saying they ‘strongly’ and ‘continuously and fully’ support their own police force’s NatSec department. From the SB’s…

The Police have the responsibility to pursue those who have allegedly committed offences under the National Security Law outside Hong Kong. As with the eight persons who have been put on the wanted list earlier, the five persons concerned have fled overseas and allegedly continued to commit offences under the National Security Law. Their malicious acts to endanger national security have been seen through by all, and there is no doubt that they have clearly and seriously endangered national security. As the law enforcement department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region safeguarding national security, the Police are duty bound to put the five persons on the wanted list in accordance with the law and the action is fully justified,” a spokesman for the SB said.

“No matter how countries and politicians harbouring these absconders unreasonably smear the action, the Police will continue to take all necessary measures steadfastly and fearlessly to prevent, suppress and impose punishment for acts and activities endangering national security in accordance with the law, upholding the principle that ‘laws are observed so as to bring offenders to account’, with a view to safeguarding national security,” the spokesman continued.

From AP…

In Washington, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller condemned the “egregious actions taken by Hong Kong authorities in announcing national security law changes and a new bounty list targeting democracy advocates overseas.”

“That shows blatant disregard for international norms for democracy and human rights,” he said. “Hong Kong authorities have no jurisdiction within United States borders where the advocates for democracy and freedom will continue to enjoy their constitutionally guaranteed freedom and rights.”

NatSec police also arrest four people locally for donating to Nathan Law and Ted Hui through online crowdfunding platforms. (How do the authorities know they donated? What about the thousands of people who contributed to the legal aid fund?) Ronny Tong opines that watching wanted exiles’ YouTube channels might count as giving financial aid.

The Standard says Chief NatSec Superintendent Steve Li adds an appeal to Agnes Chow…

“I hope she can seize the opportunity to return to Hong Kong so she will not become a fugitive,” he said. “Otherwise, if she does not return to Hong Kong and report to us on time we will put her on the wanted list.”

Chow had claimed she was required by police to visit Shenzhen in exchange for the return of her passport.

The condition of bail “is not absolutely rigid and we are open to discussion,” Li responded to that claim.

While she considers, TVB broadcasts another video recantation by jailed protester Tong Ying-kit. And the Jimmy Lai NatSec trial starts Monday.

Some reading for the weekend…

As HK Chinese U fires its vice-president for signing a petition opposing reform of the institution’s council, the BBC reports on declining academic freedom in Hong Kong…

[A 30-something humanities academic] says his nightmare is being named and attacked by Beijing-backed media, which could cost him his job, or worse, his freedom. That fear has swept through Hong Kong’s universities and academic circles, which once attracted top talent. The city was close to the mainland, yet far enough to host progressive classrooms, world-class libraries and archives that allowed academic freedom, even in Chinese studies.

But that is no longer the case, academics and students tell the BBC, many choosing to stay anonymous out of fear. In the academic year 2021/22, more than 360 scholars left Hong Kong’s eight public universities. The turnover rate – 7.4% – is the highest since 1997, when Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule, according to official data. Foreign student enrolments have dropped by 13% since 2019.

“The free atmosphere that existed is gone and people are worried,” says Stephan Ortmann, a political scientist at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University. He says many of his colleagues have left and those that remain are wary – he has heard of teachers who have removed all Hong Kong and China-related material from their courses.

Winners of this week’s Yes We’re Desperate Award goes to the Hong Kong Tourism Board for offering free restaurant meals to Hong Kong people to induce them to… visit Hong Kong.  (The HKTB is funded by a levy on hotels, right? So you could say this is a subsidy to residents from tourists.)

A Standard editorial wonders whether the Lantau islands reclamation mega-project is really going to happen…

The rail and road network masterplan revealed by Transport Secretary Lam Sai-hung has offered the strongest evidence that former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s Lantau Tomorrow Vision has ceased to be a priority – if not quietly left on the shelf to gather dust.

After Beijing’s officials increased de-facto control over Hong Kong in 2019-20, the bureaucrats’ longstanding insistence that all that underutilized land in the New Territories couldn’t be used for housing was dropped and the Northern Metropolis unveiled. That left the Lantau reclamation redundant – unless you were eying multi-billion dollar contracts. But with reserves dwindling, even the biggest white-elephant fans must be having second thoughts. ‘Stupid’ is one thing; ‘no money’ is another.

Several Western commenters offer views on China’s collapsing birth rate. Carl Minzner…

Totaling 17.86 million in 2016, [births] slid to 9.56 million in 2022, a roughly 50 percent decline in six years. 

…Wang [Pei’an], one of the top leaders of the enforcement bureau previously charged with enforcing China’s harsh one-child limit, is now channeling new central party directives and pivoting in the direction of pronatalism. His is not the language of individual choice, nor of helping China’s youth recognize their own personal ambitions. Instead, it is an as-yet nascent framework for—yet again—telling Chinese youth what the state expects them to do with respect to marriage and childbirth. 

And that is a serious problem. It points to a steady re-politicization of some of the most private choices facing Chinese citizens. 

Inside Asian Gambling publishes an open letter from Alvin Chow, boss of Suncity casino junket operator ‘sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of fraud, triad offences and illegal gambling’. He claims the charges and punishment were excessive. 

National Interest casts doubt on Western governments’ never-ending eagerness to get on with China …

It is illogical to assume that a dystopian communist surveillance state with vast imperial ambitions and an entrenched plan to subvert the U.S.-oriented world order will significantly change course because of economic or diplomatic “engagement.”

Bloomberg on Beijing’s attempts to write the Mongol Empire out of history…

…in the regional capital of Hohhot, the history museum has gotten rid of its “Genghis Khan and His Empire” exhibit, along with any souvenirs featuring him in the gift shop. China last year even passed a law mandating that the Chinese language must be used over Mongolian in order to “safeguard national sovereignty.”

A look back at Taipei’s old ‘combat zone’ – declining into seediness since the end of the Vietnam War at Linsen North Street, Lane 132, of which I have some vague recollections in the late 1980s.

On YouTube: a DW documentary about Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, and Alex Jones’ ranting as an indie folk song.