📡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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#Solidarity #StandwithUkraine
"We Stand with You": Train in Ukrainian Colors Running in Western Japan

A railway operator in the western Japanese city of Takamatsu repainted one of their trains in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, in solidarity with the war-torn country. The train began service in its new colors on April 19, 2022.

Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad Co., the company operating the train, said on Twitter that they wanted to recognize the staff of Ukrainian railways who continued operating trains to transport civilians to safety, some of them tragically losing their lives amid the ongoing conflict.

The two-car train wrapped in yellow and blue also bore messages saying "We stand with you," "To the Ukrainian railway operators working to protect people's lives-" and "We wish for world peace" on both sides.

Source: Channel C HK, #Apr20
https://bit.ly/3xFtbQh

#Train
Around 1% of Hong Kong civil service employees quit in 2021/22

Source: Ming Pao; #Apr19

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#Resignation
Around 1% of Hong Kong civil servants quit in 2021/22

In Hong Kong, a rise in civil servants and Administrative Officers of the Government quitting their jobs is noticeable in recent years.

In the first 9 months of 2021/22, 8,274 civil servants have left the government, among them, 2,800 handed in their resignation.

The resignations, which represented a 50% increase than last year, were said only made up a small percentage of those who left at the same period. An official source from Civil Service Bureau claimed.

Hong Kong has around 178,000 government workers as of the end of March 2022. Those resigned accounted 1.6%, the highest figure since the return of Hong Kong to China.

The labour union representing civil service employees raised their concern over the vacancy arising from the increase in departure and decline in recruitment, amidst also political and work pressure.

Source: Ming Pao; #Apr19

https://bit.ly/3KaPqAc

#FailedState #CivilServant
Putin: Countries who set up a #Ukraine no-fly zone will be considered at war

Source: TW Apple Daily #Mar06

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Putin: Countries who set up a #Ukraine no-fly zone will be considered at war

Russian President #VladimirPutin said on March 5 that any country intending to set a no-fly zone above #Ukraine will be deemed as participating in an armed conflict.

According to AFP, #Putin told staff of Russian airline company Aeroflot that he needed a "demilitarised" and "denazified" Ukraine as a neutral neighbouring country. He also considered that the western measures on #Russia were like a declaration of war, "but thank God it has not come to that," he said.

Ukraine have been asking the West to set up a #NoFlyZone over their airspace. Putin commented that Europe and the whole world would face "colossal and catastrophic consequences" if countries followed Ukraine's call.

Source: TW Apple Daily #Mar06

https://tw.appledaily.com/international/20220306/NDT4MSZZD5HM5KH2UXA3RX7VBE/

#RussianInvasion
[Special] Taiwanese students living in HK under National Security Law - some got back to Taiwan, some stay.

Translated by Guardians of Hong Kong

In the past ten years, many Taiwanese further their post-secondary education and stay for career development in Hong Kong which has comparatively more international exposure than studying in Taiwan.

This year, among the many crying and hugging scenes in the Hong Kong International Airport, there were some Taiwanese friends. Wing-Yan (pseudonym), a Taiwanese who completed her bachelor degree in the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and stayed for 7 years, left Hong Kong in Aug 2021 and returned to Taiwan.

Read our fully translated story here:
https://telegra.ph/Special-Taiwanese-students-living-in-HK-under-National-Security-Law---some-got-back-to-Taiwan-some-stay-12-31

Source: The Stand News #Aug20

Reporter: KWAN Kwun-kei

#NSL #ChinaTaiwan #TaiwaneseInHK #Taiwan
Chinese #Drones Company #DJI denies accusations of leaking Ukrainian Military Secrets

Source: Unwire.hk #Mar31

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Chinese #Drones Company #DJI denies accusations of leaking Ukrainian Military Secrets

#MediaMarkt, a German electronic retailer, removed all DJI products from their shelves last week, after sources confirmed that the Chinese drone manufacturer has been leaking Ukrainian Military secrets and locations to Russia.

DJI has responded on Twitter earlier this week, denying any breach of data.

Pulling all the DJI products from over 800 stores across 12 EU countries and Turkey, MediaMarkt only stated that immediate action was needed due to their responsibilities as a corporate, without any further explanation to the cause of the pull. However, in a response to an enquiry from the internet, the company claimed that DJI has been leaking the GPS data of Ukrainian army to Russia, and that they would follow up with situation as it develops.

Source: Unwire.hk #Mar31

https://unwire.hk/2022/03/31/dji-rejects-claim-that-it-leaks-data-to-russia-on-ukrainian-military-positions/life-tech/drone/

#MadeInChina #RussianInvasion #Ukraine
Chinese property developer in Melbourne reportedly deported from Australia for 'endangering national security'

Source: SBS Australia #Apr5

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Chinese property developer in Melbourne reportedly deported from Australia for 'endangering national security'

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have confirmed that the federal government has accused Chinese millionaire #ZhengJieFu of carrying out missions for Chinese intelligence agencies and secretly promoting Beijing's interests.

Zheng has been deported from Australia in 2021, making him one of the most recent Australian residents to be deported by the federal government for allegedly having close ties to Chinese state security or foreign interventionist agencies.

Unidentified sources told reporters that the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (#ASIO) had accused Zheng of foreign interference in Australia on behalf of the Chinese government, claiming that he had offered cash to a student in Australia to pressure the father of a human rights activist who was already in Chinese custody. However, Zheng has previously denied the allegations.

ASIO alleges that Zheng had "repeatedly" contacted a suspected Chinese spy on mission in Australia while he was in the country.

Source: SBS Australia #Apr5

https://www.sbs.com.au/chinese/cantonese/zh-hant/millionaire-chinese-property-developer-quietly-expelled-for-harming-security-interests

#Australia #Melbourne #China #ZhengJiefu #Chineseintelligenceagencies #Chineseinfluence #Chinesespy #Australianationalsecurity #ASIO
#CCPcontrol #Censorship #Silencing
Furious Chinese Netizens over Lockdown Posts National Anthem "Rise Up" to Protest, and are Promptly Blocked on Weibo

Source: Whats News Media; #Apr21

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#CCPcontrol #Censorship #Silencing
Furious Chinese Netizens over City Lockdown posts National Anthem "Rise Up" to Protest, and are Promptly Blocked on Weibo

With the widespread of #Omicron in Shanghai, the Chinese government is responding with a tougher stain on the lockdown of the city, leading to public discontent and resistance.

Many Chinese netizens used the first line of the national anthem, "Rise up! Those refuse to be slaves", as a hashtag and posted it on #Weibo to express their anger. This was blocked by Weibo later on, which is ridiculously tantamount to making the national anthem a forbidden word.

It was found later, after searching on Weibo, that the national anthem is still searchable, but the search results would be blanked if the keyword is a hashtag of the national anthem.

This is not the first time China has banned its national anthem. Back in the early days of the #COVID19 outbreak in #Wuhan, when 'whistle blower' Dr. Li Wenliang died, Douban.com banned the lyrics of the same song for "containing radical current affairs or ideology".

Source: Whats News Media; #Apr21
https://www.whatsnewsmedia.com/8796/16/08/45/

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Related article
National Flag Guard – Doctor LI Wenliang was died due to the systematic speech controls, which he believed in and supported
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/16978?single
.
#HumanRights #WhiteTerror
Hong Kong’s Human Rights Press Awards cancelled, citing legal risks

Source: Hong Kong Free Press

#PressFreedom

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#HumanRights #WhiteTerror
Hong Kong’s Human Rights Press Awards cancelled, citing legal risks

Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club (#FCC) has cancelled this year’s Human Rights Press Awards, citing “significant areas of uncertainty” under the law.

In a statement emailed to members on Monday, club president Keith Richburg said the FCC board met on Saturday and “after a lengthy discussion, regretfully decided to suspend the Human Rights Press Awards pending further review.”
The winners of the Human Rights Press Awards were expected to be announced on May 3, which is also World Press Freedom Day.

“Over the last two years, journalists in Hong Kong have been operating under new ‘red lines’ on what is and is not permissible, but there remain significant areas of uncertainty and we do not wish unintentionally to violate the law,” Richburg wrote. “This is the context in which we decided to suspend the Awards.”

“I know this is an unusual step to take so late in the process, just weeks before we were set to announce the winners,” he added.

According to FCC's website, “The Human Rights Press Awards recognise top rights-related reporting from around Asia, with the goal of increasing respect for people’s basic rights and focusing attention on threats to those freedoms.”

Since the onset of Hong Kong’s national security law in 2020, two of the city’s newsrooms have been raided and their top editors arrested, as press freedom NGOs have sounded the alarm. #AppleDaily, #StandNews and #CitizenNews are among the outlets that have shuttered.

Full article:
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/25/breaking-hong-kongs-human-rights-press-awards-cancelled/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press

#PressFreedom #HumanRights #WhiteTerror
#ShanghaiLockdown
Shanghai Violinist Leaped to his Death after COVID Restrictions Denied him Medical Assistance

Source: In-Media HK

#HumanitarianCrisis #ChenShunPing #WuhanPneumonia

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#ShanghaiLockdown
Shanghai Violinist Leaped to his Death after COVID Restrictions Denied him Medical Assistance

71-year-old amateur violinist Chen Shunping, who lived in #Shanghai, had taken his own life after being denied medical help for his suspected pancreatitis during the city's month-long lockdown. He was a member of the Shanghai Pops Orchestra.

Three #COVID19 deaths had been recorded [Ed: as of April 18] since Shanghai's lockdown began in late March, all of whom were seniors with chronic illnesses.

However, reports often surfaced on Chinese social media surrounding deaths of patients not being able to get medical treatment.

According to chat messages from Chen's family, he began to feel unwell in the evening of April 13, with stomach pains and vomiting; from experience, he suspected it was pancreatitis.

His family called an ambulance, who took Chen to two separate hospitals, but both turned him away, citing COVID restrictions. Unable to endure the severe pain, Chen left suicide notes for his family before leaping to his death from his apartment.

Chen's wife was stricken with grief as she remembered him as a cheerful and kind man, with a passion for life and music: "This society had taken an ordinary, lively man and pushed him to his death!"

His death also sparked outcry online; netizens commented that he "didn't get COVID, but died because of COVID."

A separate incident of a pregnant Shanghai woman who died from blood loss during a premature birth also circulated on social media. Shanghai police quickly refuted it as "fake news", announcing that the woman successfully gave birth to twins, and that they had arrested the spreader of the rumor.

Netizens were quick to react: "Why don't you refute Chen Shunping's fake news?" "Chen's case still hasn't been refuted, so it must be true."

Source: In-Media HK
https://bit.ly/3OeDLUx

#HumanitarianCrisis #WuhanPneumonia #ChenShunPing
The Chaser News: "The spy who blew it uncovered"

Source: The Chaser News

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The Chaser News: "The spy who blew it uncovered"

[Editor's note: The Chaser News is an online news company founded by Hongkongers in January 2022.]

MI5 issued a security alert to the Parliament on January 13, 2022, naming a lawyer from Hong Kong, Christine Ching Kui Lee, as an agent working for China’s United Front Department. She tried to establish contacts with members of Parliament with the aim of infiltrating British politics. She was alleged to have given more than £670,000 in donation to an MP and his political party since 2005. She set up the British Chinese Project to raise funds for ethnic Chinese organizations in the UK.

The Chaser unveils the trajectory of Christine Lee from an ordinary country girl in the New Territories of Hong Kong to a high-flying influencer in the business and political circles in London. How did she come to be the ideal agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to work the political network in England and absorb Chinese British into their sphere? How did her scheme expose the weakest link in Westminster?

Full story available on the Chaser News Patreon:

English: https://www.patreon.com/posts/65504332
Chinese: https://www.patreon.com/posts/65503335

Source: The Chaser News
https://www.facebook.com/the.chaser.news/posts/138733698730834

#ChristineLee #MI5 #CCP
#Election
1 km queue of Filipinos in Hong Kong for #Philippines Presidential Election

Source: Inmedia #Apr17

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#Election
1 km queue of Filipinos in Hong Kong for #Philippines Presidential Election

The #Philippines presidential election will be held on #May09, and the overseas voting starts from #Apr10 to #May09. Over 90 thousands Filipinos in Hong Kong have the right to vote.

There was a 1 km queue outside the voting station at Kennedy Town at 10am on 17 April.

Some domestic workers were shocked about the cold atmosphere of Hong Kong Chief Executive election, believing the public grievance was due to their lack of right to vote.

Some of them were satisfied with their voting rights, hoping the new Philippines President can bring changes to the Philippines.

The presidential election is to select the President, Vice-president, senators and local officials. There are six Philippine President candidates, including Bongbong Marcos, son of former president Marcos, current vice-president Leni Robredo, Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, who came from the grassroots, retired boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, and senator Panfilo Lacson.

Source: Inmedia #Apr17
https://bit.ly/3xuxkXr
#Court #PoliceState
90 court cases related to 2019 Hong Kong protests took 300 to 400 days to conclude

//Drawing from some 90 protest-related cases, the security secretary said that the time between the date of defendants’ first appearance at Magistrates’ Courts and the conclusion of their case at the District Court was around 30 per cent longer than other criminal cases.//

Read full article
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/27/90-court-cases-related-to-2019-hong-kong-protests-took-300-to-400-days-to-conclude/

#NationalSecurityLaw #HKProtest

Source: HKFP; #Apr29