November 7, 2016 (SCMP) – Following Beijing’s decision to intervene with an interpretation of the Basic Law on oath taking by Legislative Council members, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said Hong Kong would move to enact Article 23, a controversial provision of the Basic Law relating to national security legislation. Full SCMP story:...
Read MoreMay 27, 2016 (South China Morning Press) — A university student editor has started legal action against the government’s media managing arm for barring online reporters from press conferences. Teenie Ho Kar-hei, a third-year student and chief editor of Chinese University’s English magazine Varsity, filed a High Court writ on Friday seeking a judicial review against the head of the Information Services Department, Patrick Nip...
Read MoreApril 27, 2016 — Financial and political pressures from mainland China have gradually eroded Hong Kong’s historically free media over the past decade, according to Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press report. The trend has grown worse in tandem with deteriorating conditions on the mainland itself, where an already repressive environment for freedom of expression has become even more restrictive since President Xi Jinping took...
Read MoreApril 27, 2016 (South China Morning Post), Oped by Glenville Cross — Although the Hong Kong National Party’s calls for independence have upset many people, the party is on a hiding to nothing. Hong Kong is an integral part of China, and this will not change. Beijing will never yield an inch of territory. In the early 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher’s government examined its 1997 options, it reportedly considered the possibility of...
Read MoreApril 24, 2016 (South China Morning Post), Op-ed by Cliff Buddle — The unexpected emergence of a small but vocal independence movement in Hong Kong has sparked much consternation and condemnation. Some critics have gone further than merely expressing disapproval, calling for legal action to be taken against the young activists concerned. There have even been suggestions that new national security laws should be passed, in...
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