Activists Pressure Biden to Punish China-Backed Authorities

As Hong Kong's show trial of pro-democracy figure Jimmy Lai continues, U.S. President Joe Biden is being pressed to hold Hong Kong officials accountable after accusations of sweeping the issue under the rug.

For over two years Biden has not sanctioned an official linked to the crackdown on dissent by China's client government in Hong Kong under its sweeping 2020 National Security Law, "yet in these two years, we've seen more drastic consequences," U.S.-based activist Frances Hui told Newsweek.

Once China's most-free city, Hong Kong jail cells are now estimated to house over 1,000 political prisoners, some being held for as long as two years before their trial and denied the right to a jury provided under Hong Kong's mini constitution, the Basic Law.

Hui, on whom Hong Kong has placed a bounty for information leading to her arrest, said that at this point, the government has already achieved its goals.

Most of the leaders of the 2019 protests that shook Hong Kong are now in prison or in exile, Hui pointed out. Targeting perceived ringleaders and making a public example of them has had a "chilling effect" on society.

Hui and others are lobbying Washington to levy sanctions against officials believed complicit in the unraveling of the Basic Law, which guarantees Hong Kong's citizens protection against "arbitrary or unlawful arrest, detention or imprisonment."

She attributed the bounty on her head to her advocacy of sanctions in Washington.

"It's pretty obvious they're really flipped off about this," she said.

Hui also underscored the importance of holding officials to account, particularly through sanctions.

Some in Congress agree and have accused the Biden administration of inaction on Hong Kong.

"For over two years, your team has not sanctioned a single PRC or Hong Kong official for the erosion of Hong Kong's autonomy," read an open letter to Biden from Congress' Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party in November. The statement, published ahead of Biden's highly publicized summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in California, suggested the president was tiptoeing around the Hong Kong issue in order "to get the PRC [China] to the table."

Newsweek reached out to the White House and State Department for comment.

Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, and ranking member Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, said in a statement last month that bounties placed on activists' heads reveal the "CCP-controlled Hong Kong authorities' effort through intimidation and harassment to persecute US citizens and residents engaging in peaceful political activism."

Hong Kong police on December 14 added five more overseas-based individuals to a list of wanted pro-democracy figures, including Joey Siu, an activist based in Washington, D.C., and a U.S. citizen.

The congressmen called for urgent legislative action on Capitol Hill and for the Biden administration to "immediately sanction" the officials responsible.

In November, the bipartisan Hong Kong Sanctions Act was introduced in both chambers of Congress to compel the White House to make a decision on sanctions within 180 days.

If passed, the bill would require the president to determine whether dozens of Hong Kong officials, including its police chief and several judges, had violated human rights and whether sanctions should be imposed in accordance with existing laws related to human rights and Hong Kong's autonomy.

The bill called out 49 officials by name. Biden will have 180 days to determine whether they qualify for sanctions.

This has struck a nerve with the authorities in Hong Kong.

"The [Hong Kong] Government strongly condemns foreign politicians making unfounded allegations and urging that so-called 'sanctions' be swiftly imposed in an attempt to intimidate the officials of the [Hong Kong] Government who safeguard national security," a spokesperson told Newsweek on Thursday.

Meanwhile, U.N. experts have called for the immediate release of Lai, the outspoken founder of the now-closed Apple Daily newspaper.

"We are alarmed by the multiple and serious violations of Jimmy Lai's freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association, and his right to a fair trial, including the denial of access to a lawyer of his own choosing and the handpicking of judges by the authorities," they said in a statement Monday.

Lai's prosecution, they said, appears to be motivated by his criticism of China and support for democracy.

His trial got underway in December, after Lai had been in jail more than 1,000 days.

Lai, like the so-called "Hong Kong 47"—a group of political prisoners currently awaiting the verdict of their own national security trials—faces sedition and foreign collusion charges under the sweeping 2020 National Security Law introduced in response to the city's months-long pro-democracy protests.

Lai was previously sentenced to 17 months for unauthorized assembly in 2021 and an additional five years and nine months for fraud in October 2022.

If convicted in his current trial, the 76-year-old could face life in prison.

The Hong Kong government spokesperson told Newsweek it was inappropriate for anyone to comment on the details of Lai's case since it is ongoing. Statements made to "obstruct the course of justice, or engage in conduct with the same intent," are likely to constitute criminal contempt of court or perversion of justice, they warned.

Notably, however, a spokesperson for the Chinese central government has publicly done exactly that.

"[Lai] is an agent and pawn of the anti-China forces, and the person behind the riots in Hong Kong," foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said last month, referring to the mostly peaceful protests in Hong Kong, one of which, drew nearly 2 million people onto the streets.

The U.N. experts reiterated that the National Security Law is "not in line with international legal obligations" and called on the Hong Kong government to repeal it.

Legal observers say China violated a legally binding treaty with the U.K., signed prior to the 1997 handover of the former British colony to Beijing, which guarantees a large degree of autonomy for Hong Kong until 2047.

The vaguely worded National Security Law, drafted by China's rubber stamp congress, has given the authorities wide latitude for interpretation, facilitating the persecution of those suspected of even indirect criticism of the Chinese Communist Party and its client government in Hong Kong.

Individuals have been arrested for offenses ranging from critical social media posts while living abroad to possessing "seditious" children's books about the Hong Kong democracy movement.

Hui, who was the first Hong Kong activist to secure asylum in the U.S., said that many like her are waiting years on the U.S.'s backlog of asylum applications.

"We continue to work closely with allies and partners to demonstrate unified support to people in Hong Kong and condemn the backsliding on the rights and freedoms Beijing promised, and we will continue to call for the immediate, unconditional release of all unjustly detained political prisoners," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Newsweek.

The spokesperson referenced the Deferred Enforced Departure, a memorandum Biden signed in January of last year that deferred removal for certain Hong Kong residents who had arrived in the U.S. up until that date.

However, this extension is set to expire on February 5 of next year.

Hong Kong received a score of 10 out of 40 for political rights and 32 out of 60 for civil liberties in Freedom House's annual Freedom of the World report last year.

Correction 1/26/24, 12:28 p.m. ET: This story was corrected to say that Frances Hui was the first Hong Kong activist to be granted asylum in the U.S.