📡Guardians of Hong Kong aka BeWater HK
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We provide translation of news in English from local media and other sources, for academic use.
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Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen urges Beijing not to misjudge the situation in New Year speech

In Taipei, President Tsai Ing-wen delivered a New Year's speech in which she reiterated her concern about the situation in Hong Kong and stressed that the military was not an option for resolving cross-strait differences, urging Beijing not to misjudge the situation.

In her 2022 New Year's speech at the presidential palace, Tsai Ing-wen set out the four main plans for her administration this year, including continuation on global engagement, maintaining the economic momentum, strengthening the social security network, and safeguarding Taiwan's sovereignty.

She said that the interference in the election of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and the arrest of media personnel had raised concerns about human rights and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.

"The pursuit of democracy and freedom is not a crime, and Taiwan's position in support of Hong Kong will not change. Aside from showing our concern, we will cherish our own hard-earned freedom and democracy even more deeply", Tsai said.

Source: Now News #Jan01

https://news.now.com/home/international/player?newsId=461848&refer=Share

#Taiwan #TsaiIngWen #LegislativeCouncil #Election #TheStandNews #Arrest #PressFreedom

[Translator note: Some wordings are following the report from Focus Taiwan, a CNA English News agency]
#CCPinfluence #Discrimination
Hong Kong Lawmaker: Legalizing same sex marriage destroys social value and violates national security law

In a reply to Legislative Council member Regina Ip, chairperson of the New People Party, about the legislation schedule of the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (#SDO), the Equal Opportunities Commission (#EOC) chairperson Chu Man-kin said that there was no timetable for the ordinance at the moment and should not have a rigid one.

But he said that an internal study has reached a consensus on some of the issues.

However, another legislator Junius Ho Kwan-yiu said that legalising homosexual marriage is a matter of right and wrong, and will directly destroy the composition of society and families.

He claims that the dissemination of undesirable ideologies like this was prohibited under Article 23 of the National Security Law of the People's Republic of China.

Source: Inmediahk, #May16

#SDO #LegislativeCouncil #EOC

https://bit.ly/3LnlWjg
25th Anniversary of the Transferral of Hong Kong's Sovereignty: "Huge fallback of democracy"

In 2022, the sovereignty over Hong Kong has been transferred from Britain to the PRC for 25 years but with no plans for universal suffrage. The currrent electoral system is a "huge fallback of democracy".

With the enactment of Hong Kong National Security Law (#NSL) since 2020, the #CentralGovernment largely changed Hong Kong's electoral system, as the city's #LegislativeCouncil (#LegCo) no longer has an opposite voice.

With the enormous change in the political system and the environment in Hong Kong, what hapened to the promise of "High Degree of Autonomy" and "Hong Kong ruled by Hong Kong people"?

"When I was in Hong Kong, I saved my diary for the first time in my life. I hope it can be the evidence of Hong Kong being a British colony with a democratic society." said former and the last Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten.

Hong Kong once experienced a higher level of democracy and more freedom. However, the circumstances have changed a lot in the last 25 years. The promise of a "real universal suffrage" has never been fulfilled. Worse still, the electoral system had been changed.

Source: RFA #July01
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/features/hottopic/feature-71-07012022024423.html

#HighDegreeofAutonomy #ChrisPatten #ElectoralSystem #Handover