Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong to join anti-Xi Jinping rally in London

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Heroine

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• Oct 21, 2015

• #1

Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong to join anti-Xi Jinping rally in London

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 20 October, 2015, 4:58pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 20 October, 2015, 8:53pm

Danny Lee
[email protected]

Joshua Wong (left) is set to attend a protest in London against the visit by Xi Jinping (right) to London. Photos: AFP, Reuters

Student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung is expected to lead a group of Hong Kong protesters today, joining forces with human rights groups to greet President Xi Jinping as he begins his state visit to Britain.

Members of the London branch of the Hong Kong Overseas Alliance (HKOA) will join forces with Amnesty International and Tibetan and Uygur activists in protesting against Xi’s arrival.

The protesters will congregate around St James Park, north of The Mall, away from Buckingham Palace, where Xi will receive a ceremonial welcome and later attend a state banquet hosted by the British royal family.

At the same time, a pro-China group will rally nearby to drum up support for the country.

The HKOA announced on its Facebook page that Wong would join the protest.

Wong’s visit to Britain coincided with Xi’s state visit. The activist is in the country to speak at several prestigious UK universities including the Oxford Union, the London School of Economics and The London School of Oriental and African Studies about democratisation in Hong Kong and self-determination.

Pro-China demonstrators will also be on hand in London. Photo: Reuters

The HKOA said: “International human rights organisations are protesting against Xi Jinping for the continuous prosecutions faced by Chinese activists, who have been supporting and encouraging Hong Kong people publicly, without regard for their own safety, during the Umbrella Revolution.

“As Hong Kong people, it is our turn to provide support and condemn Xi Jinping.”

The HKOA orchestrated Occupy solidarity protests in dozens of countries including outside the Chinese embassy in the British capital that attracted thousands of demonstrators.

Mainland dissident Shao Jiang is also expected to join the rally. He was a leading figure in the Chinese student movement who helped draft a list of demands during the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests.

The Amnesty International-led rally will attempt to highlight what it sees as a marked deterioration in the human rights situation in China under Xi.

“The government has ratcheted up censorship of the internet, clamped down on civil society, increased its ideological controls over the media and academia and launched several large-scale crackdowns on human rights defenders, lawyers, and activists. Most recently at least 245 lawyers and activists have been targeted in an unprecedented nationwide campaign over the last 100 days and at least 30 are ‘missing’ or still in police custody,” the human rights organisation added.

 

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Heroine

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• Oct 21, 2015

• #2

HK student leader says China cash blinds UK to rights abuse

AFP
October 20, 2015, 10:51 pm

London (AFP) - The promise of billions of dollars of trade deals with China has blinded Britain to rights abuses, leading Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong said as Chinese President Xi Jinping visits.

Wong is the 19-year-old student face of the Umbrella Movement, which brought major Hong Kong roads to a standstill for more than two months last year with protests calling for fully free leadership elections.

Bespectacled and baby-faced, his activism brought him international fame and he has been hailed as among the world's most influential figures by magazines including Time, Fortune and Foreign Policy.

"Capital investment has blinded the eyes of David Cameron," Wong told AFP, referring to the British prime minister.

"I just hope I get this chance to let David Cameron and other UK politicians know that China's human rights and democracy process is an issue the British government should not ignore."

Wong is expected to join protests featuring Amnesty International, Free Tibet and Chinese, Tibetan and Uighur activists as Xi receives a ceremonial welcome in London on Tuesday.

He wants Cameron's government to do more to stand up to China over what he sees as an abuse of power in Hong Kong.

"For most Hong Kong citizens, we think UK government should be more active. Our observation is that the UK government is just ignoring Hong Kong for the business deals," Wong said.

The teenager, who is studying public administration at the Open University of Hong Kong, added that many people in Hong Kong saw the British government as "really passive".

The semi-autonomous city was returned to China by Britain in 1997 and is ruled under a "one country, two systems" deal which allows it greater freedoms than seen on the mainland.

But activists fear its high degree of autonomy is being eroded, a concern echoed by Britain's Foreign Affairs Select Committee in a report published in March.

- 'Democracy is eroding' -

Last year's mass protests in Hong Kong erupted after Beijing said candidates for the city's next leader must be vetted by a loyalist committee ahead of a public vote.

The electoral plan has since been voted down by pro-democracy lawmakers who were unhappy with the restrictions, leaving the territory with its existing system where the leader is chosen by a pro-Beijing panel.

Activists were critical of Britain's failure to speak out against China's plans for the 2017 vote, which they said breached the handover agreement.

And Wong questioned whether Britain could trust China after what he said were broken promises over its former colony.

The student leader still faces charges relating to the protests and fears he could be sent to prison next year.

He said that while he recognised the need for international leaders such as Cameron and Xi to hold talks, Hong Kong needed help from Cameron and the British people.

"I'm not saying that the British can't have any dialogue with China's government. For the prime minister and president to have dialogue is responsible but the problem is, democracy is eroding in Hong Kong," Wong said.

"I just hope the British government and the British people can stand up for democracy because so many people in China are silenced and cannot stand up."

As for Xi, he added: "With ignorance of human rights, he will face more protests."

 

LulzSec

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• Oct 21, 2015

• #3

Joshua the Amos Yee of Hong Kong?

 

dancingshoes

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• Oct 21, 2015

• #4

he is a young lad blindly following the democracy thing, i bet he will be banished to one of the western countries in future.

 

Scrooball (clone)

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• Oct 21, 2015

• #5

What Joshua needs is a good lashing and 30 days in a cell.

 

N

Netflix

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• Oct 21, 2015

• #6

Where are all the so called (fake) oppo supporters??? Always missing in action and failing to rise to the occasion. Typical PAP IB moles