The Hong Kong government spokesperson was responding to the news of a proposed bill that would force its Economic Trade Office to change the address, the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) reported on April 30.

The bill proposed by lawmakers Chris Smith and Tom Suozzi on April 25 would force the Hong Kong government office to state its address as "1 Jimmy Lai Way," a press release from Smith's office said.

The unnamed spokesperson said that "no one should comment on ongoing cases" and urged the US to "respect the basic norms governing international relations" and stop maliciously interfering in the internal affairs.

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Father Robert Sirico, a supporter and friend of Lai's, said during the installation ceremony on Thursday that the sketch is a testimony "not just of Jimmy's struggle but the struggle of all people of Hong Kong" and "all of the people of China, who will, by faith, resist [oppression]."

The large drawing depicts Christ on the cross flanked by eight orange flowers. It was created by Lai in prison, where, according to Father Sirico, he has been kept in solitary confinement for close to 1,500 days.

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Ambiguity has been created in the way Hong Kong's pro-Beijing authorities use the national security law. This has sown "confusion over what could be said and what could not", says Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan (pictured).

Such a situation is an obstacle for those who want to heal society's wounds, he says.

In the interview, Chow calls on Hongkongers not to give up; rather, "Sit and watch the clouds rise," he advises. "It's time to discern instead of taking action."

"The difficulty of the national security law lies in not knowing where the red line is. Educators, social workers, and even legal professionals face barriers," the bishop says.

"Experts and law enforcers might have a different understanding [of the law].

"Everyone needed to know where the boundaries were so they would know how to express themselves".

With respect to how the crackdown following the 2019 anti-government protests divided Hong Kong's own Catholic community, Chow urges everyone to play a role in reconciling a deeply wounded society.

He says the Catholic Church is doing its bit and is not lying "flat" and doing nothing in the wake of the social unrest and introduction of the national security law, Chow reports.

"Its institutions and members increased support for young people in jail, by providing education and rehabilitation."

Calling for patience to heal the wounds of political divisions and deep distrust in society, Chow urges people to adjust their attitude towards others.

"Hong Kong's biggest crisis now is that different groups only think of their own interests," he says.

Healing "requires each of us to listen and communicate with each other".

Asked about relations with Beijing and the renewal of the Agreement with the Holy See on episcopal appointments, Chow says in the interview he hoped to visit the bishops of mainland China and establish ties.

The task entrusted to Hong Kong by John Paul II is to link China's Catholic community with the universal Church, he adds.

"We hope to have more chances to talk and listen. Don't worry about brainwashing, [which] implies that we are just brainless."

Chow finished saying arrangements made to meet Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu fell through after Lee fell ill with COVID.

"I hope he gained the spirit and breadth of mind in Wah Yan," Chow says. "I understand that he is subject to many political constraints, but it's good if he is willing to communicate."

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• Asia News

Retired Catholic bishop and Cardinal Joseph Zen and five co-defendants pleaded not guilty at the West Kowloon Magistrates Court to failing to properly register their 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which offered financial, legal and psychological help to people arrested during the 2019 protest movement.

The West Kowloon Magistrate's Court adjourned the trial after defence attorneys for Zen and his co-defendants, former pro-democracy lawmaker and barrister Margaret Ng, scholar Hui Po-keung, jailed former lawmaker Cyd Ho, Cantopop star Denise Ho and former fund secretary Sze Shing-wee tried to counter police witnesses called by the prosecution.

The prosecution was allowed to fully make its case that the defendants should have registered the fund within one month of starting the operation, but when the defence came to cross-examine them, their questions were overruled as irrelevant.

The trial was adjourned before the defence could call witnesses or make its case after judge Ada Yim ruled that their testimony was already well-established. The trial had been scheduled to run for five days.

Zen and the other defendants were arrested in May under a draconian national security law for "colluding with foreign forces" but have yet to be indicted on that charge.

Vatican silent

On Monday, the first day of the trial, the prosecution said the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund had raised a total of US$34.4 million and used part of the fund for "political activities and non-charity events" such as donations to protest groups.

The defence argued that the defendants had a right to form an association under the city's mini-constitution, the Basic Law.

The Vatican has remained mostly silent on Zen's trial apart from issuing a statement after the cardinal's arrest in May expressing "concern" and that it was "following the development of the situation with extreme attention," the Catholic News Agency reported.

The cardinal's trial comes as the Holy See and Beijing are determining the terms of the renewal of an agreement on the appointment of bishops in China, it said.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said in an Italian television interview on 2 September that a delegation of Vatican diplomats has returned from China and that he believes the agreement will be renewed by the end of the year.

Zen has been an outspoken critic of the 2018 deal, calling it "an incredible betrayal".

'Man of God'

Pope Francis said on 15 September that the Vatican has "chosen the path of dialogue" with China.

However Cardinal Fernando Filoni, an expert in Chinese affairs, said in a recent article in the bishops' newspaper Avvenire that Zen "is a man of God; at times intemperate, but submissive to the love of Christ.

"He is an authentic Chinese. No one among those I have known can, I say, be truly as loyal as he is," Filoni wrote.

Zen travelled to Rome last year in a bid to discuss who will be the next Bishop of Hong Kong, but was denied an audience with the Pope and returned home empty-handed, he told the National Catholic Register at the time.

As well as criticising the Vatican's deal with Beijing, Zen has said he fears that appointing a bishop for Hong Kong who is totally obedient to the CCP would effectively collapse any distinction between the Catholic church in mainland China and that in Hong Kong.

He said such a collapse had been made likely by the imposition by Beijing of the national security law on Hong Kong with effect from 1 July 2020, and that the Vatican had "taken leave" of the church's principles in signing the deal.

"Everyone in the Chinese Catholic church is now a yes-man for the Chinese government and the underground church has been eliminated," Zen told RFA in October 2021. He has said he will refuse to be interred alongside CCP-appointed clergy in a Hong Kong cathedral.

• Lee Yuk Yue and Hoi Man Wu.
• Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. Copyright © 1998-2020.
• Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

Give young people a reason to trust authority, Bishop Stephen Chow of Hong Kong suggests in a special message published last Friday.

Among the advantages he lists is a greater sense of unity in a pluralistic Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's past 25 years as a Special Administrative Region "have been very challenging," he says.

At the same time he acknowledges "the goodness, generosity and resilience we have witnessed among the people of Hong Kong."

Chow also offered prayers for young people. He asked God to bless those struggling "with empathic understanding and meaningful support from the others".

He also prayed youth would be empowered by support allowing them "to have dreams again". He hoped they would be able to "make positive differences for their future and that of Hong Kong".

He closed pledging his faith in God and asking for God to bestow "abundant blessings on China and the Chinese People".

Since June 2020, hundreds of Hong Kong activists have been arrested in the crackdown. They include prominent Catholic figures like Cardinal Joseph Zen who is 90 years old..

In March Monsignor Javier Herrera-Corona, the Vatican's unofficial representative in Hong Kong, referenced a national security crackdown by Beijing on Hong Kong in the wake of anti-government protests in 2019.

He told the city's 50-odd Catholic missions the freedoms they had enjoyed for decades were over and warned missionary colleagues to protect their missions' property, files and funds.

"Change is coming, and you'd better be prepared," Corona warned the missionaries. One says in short Corona warned: "Hong Kong is not the great Catholic beachhead it was."

The Rev. Jonathan Aitken, a former UK Cabinet minister, says religious freedom in Hong Kong is "next on the hit list by the destructive forces" of Chinese President Xi Jinping's regime.

He says Xi and his regime are particularly hostile to faith groups.

China's crackdown on Christians on the mainland is leaving them facing the worst persecution since Mao's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, Aitken claims.

He says persecution of Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners and Hui Muslims has intensified. He also says China's persecution of Uyghurs is increasingly being recognised by international critics as genocide.

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• Crux Now

But this seemed to have buried the real story — the short and medium-term future of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong.

Catholic schools will, of course, have to comply with Beijing's new laws.

After all, Catholic schools in Hong Kong largely offer government-funded services to parents and their students. As such, they are bound by the same rules that apply across the system.

But the mere fact that Catholic authorities felt the need to publicly express their keenness to fall in line with the new laws says an abundance about growing uncertainty in the Hong Kong Church about China's plans for the diocese at the highest levels.

This is of course a very Chinese way of trying to head off any further moves by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to signal compliance when, in fact, it does not mean any real changes at all apart from an acknowledgement of new rules.

So, the leadership of the CCP in Hong Kong is now acknowledged by the Church there.

Still, this is hardly the first time the Church — not just in Hong Kong but also the Vatican itself — has pandered to the CCP over Hong Kong in its attempts to head off its own version of Armageddon: the introduction of the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) into the diocese.

This was most clearly demonstrated by the leaked and unconfirmed news that Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, a critic of Beijing, freedom activist and supporter of last year's street protests, has been passed over to succeed the late Michael Yeung Ming-cheung as bishop of Hong Kong. Instead, Rev. Peter Choy Wai-man, who is decidedly pro-Beijing, is expected to be handed the job.

Despite predictions by conservative Catholic media in January of an imminent announcement on the new bishop, nothing has happened so far.

There are many possible reasons for this but one may be the outlying status of the dioceses of Hong Kong and Macau in terms of China amid ongoing discussions between Beijing and the Vatican about a new deal on the appointment of bishops.

Hong Kong is technically a suffragan diocese to the mainland Archdiocese of Guangzhou — at least according to the Vatican's official diocesan map which was frozen in time when the Church was sent packing from China in 1951 by Mao Zedong.

But in practice, Hong Kong Diocese answers to the Vatican and is unique in the Catholic world as the only diocese with its own cardinal.

Macau has never been part of any mainland diocese and is answerable to the Vatican. Beijing surely now wants them under its control.

Under the auspices of the CCPA, mainland China's diocese and parishes have changed, as they would have under the Vatican had it still had any visibility of changing demographics.

Could it be that Beijing has asked the Vatican not to announce the new bishop's appointment until the two sides can agree on what to do with Hong Kong?

The status of the Church in the city has suddenly become more problematic after the passing of the tough national security legislation.

It is worth noting that Hong Kong Diocese and the Vatican's unofficial representative in the city were reportedly hacked by the mainland ahead of the fresh talks.

This could spell trouble for the Church in Hong Kong, and the city's Catholics surely feel this by now.

The situation is compounded by Kong Kong's unusual diocesan status under the Vatican and the Holy See's near-obsessive desire to "normalize" relations with the Chinese Church at the expense of speaking out against rampant religious persecution and horrific human rights violations.

The national security law gives Beijing just legal cause to bring the Church and its outspoken leaders, led by Cardinal Joseph Zen, Bishop Ha and Hong Kong's Diocese Justice and Peace Commission, to heel.

The arrest of Catholic tycoon Jimmy Lai today is a signal that no one is safe.

The answer in Beijing's mind is only ever more control, and for religion that means state-run religious organizations.

This would be better, from both Beijing and the Vatican's point of view, than going after senior clerics, which would surely be the last straw for the Vatican in terms of any new deal with Beijing.

The brutal reality is that the Diocese of Hong Kong's days of independence are now very clearly numbered and the arrival of the CCPA, like Beijing's increased control of Hong Kong, is only a matter of time.

Acceptance of this by the Vatican would be a typical piece of realpolitik by Pope Francis' chief diplomat Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

But the situation has the potential to create a storm of discontent with Pope Francis that could just derail his papacy. He should be very seriously considering whether such a battle — and it is coming one way or another — is really worth his deal with the devils in Beijing.

• Michael Sainsbury
• First published in UCANews.com. Republished with permission.

Within six hours of a new security law being passed at just after 9am on June 30, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam, a practising Catholic, had signed the law into operation. Yet it would not be until 11pm that night that the details of the law were finally released in stark black and white.

It was worse than even the most pessimistic observers had expected and triggered immediate action by Hong Kong's pro-democracy politicians and millions of residents.

Joshua Wong, 23, who in 2016 was a teenage activist who led the Umbrella Movement that brought central Hong Kong to a standstill, announced he was stepping away from his political party Demosisto.

"I hereby declare withdrawing from Demosisto ... If my voice will not be heard soon, I hope that the international community will continue to speak up for Hong Kong and step up concrete efforts to defend our last bit of freedom," Wong announced on Twitter.

Hours later Demosisto announced that it would disband. "After much internal deliberation, we have decided to disband and cease all operation as a group given the circumstances," Demosisto said on Twitter.

Wong has increasingly been a target of Hong Kong authorities and gave his being a "prime target" as his reason for quitting.

The practising Protestant and posted this on his Twitter feed: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4)

There have been multiple reports of regular Hong Kongers moving to erase digital footprints showing their criticism of the Hong Kong and Beijing governments, wary of any blowback from security forces.

Anyone advocating independence, liberation or revolution in public can be immediately arrested, and just carrying an item could be enough to break the law, police have been told.

As evidenced by the stunning attendance at a Sunday protest march in June 2019 of up to two million people against a proposed extradition law that triggered a year of demonstrations, opposition to Beijing's encroachment on the city runs deep.

Although in the end the protests were not enough, they convinced Beijing that it was too risky to allow them to continue and potentially leak over the border.

What happens next?

Many of Hong Kong's wealthy and educated elites already have dual passports and are preparing to quit the city for the United Kingdom, the US, Australia and Canada, the most popular bolt holes. Many will not want their children educated under the shadow of the Chinese flag in an education system that is about to get an overhaul for the worse.

The UK has been especially welcoming, holding out the prospect of anyone born before the 1997 handover of the territory from Great Britain to China — about three million people — having the option of residency in the UK.

Hong Kong's still relatively freewheeling media, specially mentioned as a target of the new laws, is now waiting for a crackdown from its new overlords in Beijing. At present journalists in Hong Kong require no special permits or permission and foreigners representing offshore organizations simply obtain work visas rather than the specialized and tightly controlled permits required on the mainland.

Observers are already musing whether there will be a steady but eventual relocation to perhaps Taiwan or Singapore.

Expats have suddenly found themselves living in a vastly different environment, with the easy ability to criticize Beijing suddenly an offense that could see them locked up for life either in Hong Kong or in the mainland's brutal and opaque justice system.

Indeed, shorn of the rule of law and trust of Hong Kong's legal system, the city's future as an international finance hub is now being questioned.

Things certainly have a long way to run but what we know for sure is that a dark cloud came over Hong Kong on June 30 that is set to be there for a very long time.

• Michael Sainsbury - first published by UCANews.com, republished with permission.

Several countries, including the UK, have criticised China for imposing new security laws, which they say threaten the territory's long-standing autonomy.

Facebook said it would stop considering the requests, "pending further assessment" of the human rights issues.

No personal information about users in the region was held at or disclosed from its Hong Kong office, it added.

"We believe freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and support the right of people to express themselves without fear for their safety or other repercussions," Facebook said. Read more

The government of China has imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong. This was done without systematic consultation with the general public.

This law seriously diminishes Hong Kong's freedoms and destroys the city's "high degree of autonomy" promised under the "one country, two systems" principle.

This action brings the most significant change to Hong Kong's constitution and is offensive to the spirit and letter of the 1997 handover agreement between Britain and China.

Hong Kong is one of the jewels of Asia, a "Pearl of the Orient", a crossroads between East and West, a gateway to China, a regional hub for free trade and until now has enjoyed a healthy mixture of freedom and creativity.

A national security law is not in itself wrong.

Every country has a right to legislate to safeguard protect national security.

However, such legislation should be balanced with the protection of human rights, human dignity and basic freedoms.

The imposition of the law by China's National People's Congress seriously weakens Hong Kong's Legislative Council and Hong Kong's autonomy.

It radically changes Hong Kong's identity.

I am concerned that the law poses a threat to basic freedoms and human rights in Hong Kong.

This legislation potentially undermines freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, media freedom and academic freedom. Arguably, freedom of religion or belief is put at risk.

According to many reports, freedom of religion or belief in mainland China is suffering the most severe restrictions experienced since the Cultural Revolution.

Even if freedom of worship in Hong Kong is not directly or immediately affected, the new security law and its broad criminalization of "subversion", "secession" and "colluding with foreign political forces" could result, for example, in the monitoring of religious preaching, the criminalization of candlelit prayer vigils, and the harassment of places of worship that offer sanctuary or sustenance to protesters.

It is my prayer that this law will not give the government license to interfere in the internal affairs of religious organizations and the services they provide to the general public.

Clear assurance should be given for my brother bishops and fellow priests as they prepare their homilies, Protestant clergy as they ponder their sermons, and for religious leaders of other faiths too who must instruct their communities.

The participation of religious bodies in social affairs should not be disturbed.

Provisions in Hong Kong's Basic Law guarantee freedom of belief.

Will religious leaders now be criminalized for preaching about human dignity, human rights, justice, liberty, truth?

We have learned from heavy experience that wherever freedom as a whole is undermined, freedom of religion or belief — sooner or later — is affected.

Over the past year, there have been many protests in Hong Kong, most of them peaceful.

However, while over 9,000 protesters have been arrested, not a single police officer has been held accountable for their disproportionate brutality.

We hold that all — protesters and police officers — are accountable according to the law.

It is imperative that the underlying causes of unrest should be attended to and that meaningful reforms and compromises are reached.

This national security law threatens to exacerbate tensions, not to provide solutions.

For these reasons and in the spirit of the prophets, martyrs and saints of our faith, I urge people to pray for Hong Kong today.

Pray for the leaders of China and Hong Kong that they respect the promises made to Hong Kong, the promise to protect basic liberties and rights. May I urge all to pray for peace.

Source: UCANews.com

• Cardinal Charles Bo is the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.

In a statement, Cardinal Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon in Myanmar and president of the Asian Bishops' Conferences says the bishops are calling for Christians to pray for the people of Hong Kong and China.

China's President Xi Jinping has signed into law a controversial national security legislation that aims to safeguard security in the special administrative region of Hong Kong.

Beijing says the law, which came into effect on 1 July, is necessary to deal with separatism and foreign interference.

"We hope the law will serve as a deterrent to prevent people from stirring up trouble," said Tam Yiu-Chung, Hong Kong's sole representative on the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which approved the law.

It introduces new crimes with severe penalties, such as life imprisonment. It also allows security personnel from the Chinese mainland to operate in Hong Kong without local government oversight or restriction.

Critics say it will outlaw dissent and destroy the autonomy promised when the territory was returned to China in 1997.

In his statement, Bo attacked the law as "destroying" the region's "healthy mix of creativity and freedom." He rated the new law as "offensive to the spirit and letter of the 1997 handover agreement."

The handover agreement, signed by the governments of the United Kingdom and of China when Hong Kong ceased to be a British possession in 1997, guaranteed for "at least 50 years" the city-state's right to a democratic government and relative political autonomy from the mainland.

The UK government says the new security law violates the 1997 agreement, ending its "two systems, one country" model.

Bo is also concerned about freedom of religion in Hong Kong, and wants assurances that priests and pastors will not be "criminalised" for the content of their homilies or preaching.

The situation for freedom of religion in Mainland China is "suffering the most severe restrictions experienced since the Cultural Revolution," Bo says.

Given that freedom of belief is guaranteed in Hong Kong's basic articles, "wherever freedom as a whole is undermined, freedom of religion or belief - sooner or later - is affected," his statement says.

Cardinal Bo statement closes with a request for Christians, "in the spirit of the prophets, martyrs and saints of our faith", to pray for preservation of human rights in Hong Kong, the people of Hong Kong, and the people of China.

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In subsequent years I not only walked along various parts of the wall, but I also slept on it once under the stars.

I never imagined that over a quarter of a century later I would be engaged in a daily war — at least of words — with China's brutal Communist Party regime.

My love affair with China — the country, the culture, the people — began when I went to teach English for six months in my gap year before university.

I taught in two schools in Qingdao, the east coast former German treaty port famous for the best beer in China.

My students were almost the same age as me, and I made many friends among them and my fellow teachers.

I recall trying to learn the language and getting into terrible trouble with the tones.

I couldn't understand why my faltering attempt to say "excuse me" to young female shop assistants was met with a stare or an embarrassed giggle until it was pointed out to me that I was actually saying "please kiss me."

They never did. Instead of telling people, I was an English teacher, I proudly declared that I was "an old English snake". Thankfully I never said that at the same time as accidentally asking for a kiss.

I recall fondly many evenings being taught to make dumplings.

I impressed my friends with my chopsticks.

I had a tour of the brewery and then had to teach a class afterwards (and I don't recall how it went).

I caused traffic to grind to a halt at a major junction when bags of oranges bought in the market broke and spilt from my bicycle.

I even scripted and produced a performance of "Alice in Wonderland" — the first school play ever performed in Qingdao's No.9 Middle School.

For the scenes where Alice shrinks, we cast someone particularly small.

We found a medium-sized girl to play Alice when she was normal size. But the cast was quick to point out that there was only one person significantly taller than everyone else and so, with pantomime humour, I was cast by my cast to play Alice — complete with hairband — when she grows tall. Needless to say, I will not be releasing the pictures.

So much did I love China that I returned to Qingdao twice during my summer holidays as an undergraduate to teach English to doctors and nurses in a hospital. I did a master's degree in China Studies before moving to Hong Kong for my first job after graduation, working as a journalist in the city for the first five years after the handover.

During my time in Hong Kong I travelled into mainland China regularly.

I was of course always attuned to the human rights situation.

I wrote my master's dissertation on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime's policies towards religion. I visited underground house churches. And one of my favourite activities on business trips to Beijing was to walk back in the moonlight from a restaurant I loved, through the Forbidden City and out through the arches beneath Mao Zedong's portrait into the empty, floodlit Tiananmen Square.

As I did so, I was always conscious both of the rich and beautiful history of this great civilization and of the bloody past that still haunts that square.

But until Xi Jinping came to power, I had few scrapes with the regime.

Only once did one edition of the small China-focused business magazine I edited in Hong Kong get banned on the mainland — and that was because we carried an interview with former Tiananmen demonstrator and labour activist Han Dongfang, headlined "One day workers will take to the streets, warns labour dissident."

Once, when I was the lead writer on a Hong Kong newspaper, Regina Ip, the city's secretary for security at the time, complained to my editor about a column I had written.

But generally, I was low-key and continued to travel to the mainland, and back to Hong Kong after I left the city, until about six years ago.

And to be very honest, until Xi Jinping came along, I was cautiously optimistic that as China liberalized economically, it would open up politically.

Indeed, I saw it for myself. About 10 years ago I sat with Chinese human rights lawyers in a restaurant in Beijing and talked surprisingly openly about prospects for reform.

None of us were under any illusions about the repressive nature of the CCP, but they were clear that some space — albeit with limits — had opened up for them to represent human rights cases.

I heard the same when I met with house church Christians, bloggers, journalists, civil society activists. Not that they were without harassment or restrictions, not that they were free, but that the cage that they were in was somewhat bigger and the bars a bit more relaxed.

Then along came Xi.

It would be a mistake to put it all on his shoulders alone — he could not have unleashed the ferocious crackdown that has occurred in the past eight years without the support of other senior CCP leaders.

But nonetheless, under his leadership the space for civil society that I witnessed has all but disappeared and China today is facing the most brutal assault on human rights since the Tiananmen massacre 31 years ago. And in one sphere — religious freedom — the repression is the worst since the Cultural Revolution.

The turning point

And so I knew I could stay low-key no longer. The turning point for me came when Xi Jinping visited Britain in 2015. I remember clearly walking across St James' Park in London to join a protest on the Mall. From a distance, I saw thousands of people lining the Mall with Chinese calligraphy on their large banners.

Heartened, I thought how wonderful it was that so many people were exercising the freedoms we have in Britain to send Xi a message. But as I drew closer, I realized they were there not to protest but to cheer him. They were Chinese students bussed in — and paid — by the embassy to act as propaganda pawns.

Our tiny protest was completely hidden and drowned out. Indeed, as I tried to watch Xi's carriage go past, a man holding a Union Jack and a Chinese flag dropped them deliberately in front of my face, blocking my view.

A Chinese man with an earpiece grimaced at me aggressively, pointed at the Union Jack and said: "It's not for you." Enraged, I replied: "Well it's my country's flag."

I added, in a not particularly courageous act of defiance, and in the best Chinese I could muster: "Xi Jinping, bu hao" (Xi Jinping not good). He glared and raised his fist. My active fight against the CCP began that day.

My thoughts are with the courageous people of Hong Kong fighting to defend the front line of freedom for all of us — and the Chinese dissidents who struggle to survive in the darkness.

I worked with a British member of parliament to ensure that an urgent question on human rights in China was raised in the House of Commons while Xi was still in the country. It was the only formal public airing of the issue. The British government at the time were furious. The following year, the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission held a major inquiry into human rights in China, resulting in a shocking report titled "The Darkest Moment: The Crackdown on Human Rights in China 2013-2016". Some in our government were incandescent.

In 2017, I decided it was time to visit Hong Kong again — the city that had been my home for the first five years of my working life — to learn more about the political situation there. I had returned to Hong Kong regularly since I left in 2002 and never anticipated any problem. But this time was different. Beijing decided they did not like me, and I was turned away at the airport, denied entry, in breach of the "one country, two systems" principle on which Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997. The incident drew significant publicity and political attention in Britain, which helped shine a spotlight on the erosion of Hong Kong's freedoms. I co-founded Hong Kong Watch two months later because I knew the time had come to establish an advocacy organization to speak up for the city I love.

Since then two things have happened. The first is that I have received a constant stream of abuse and harassment from the CCP's agents. It started with anonymous letters in the post, to my private home address, my neighbours, my employers and my mother. The first, to every household in my street, came addressed "Dear Resident" with my photograph on the front of it and the words "Watch him". Dozens of similar letters have come over the past two years, followed by numerous threatening emails, and fake emails sent to members of parliament, BBC and Daily Mail journalists and others in my name. At least four MPs have been lobbied by the Chinese embassy to tell me to stop speaking about China and Hong Kong. I was the initial target of a Chinese state television reporter's violent outburst at the Conservative Party conference in 2018.

These are nothing at all compared to what Chinese dissidents endure, in China or in exile, or what brave Hong Kongers struggling for their survival face, but they give a small glimpse into the aggression with which the CCP is reaching well beyond its borders to try to silence its critics. The strange thing though is that they don't seem to realize how completely counter-productive it is.

For the second thing that has happened is that this has only made me more determined. I did not set out to take on every issue that is most provocative and sensitive to the CCP. Indeed, I did not seek a fight with the CCP at all. But the more I learned, the more I realized I could not stay silent. And so over the past five years, not only the erosion of Hong Kong's freedoms but the horrific persecution of the Uyghurs — one of the worst mass atrocities of the 21st century — as well as the serious crackdown on Christians, the assault on practitioners of the Falun Gong Buddha-school meditative practice, forced organ harvesting, the imprisonment of bookseller Gui Minhai, the disappearance of lawyers, bloggers, whistleblowers, Tibet and Taiwan have all become my causes.

Each one is important in itself but taken as a whole they have a common thread — the brutality, the mendacity, the inhumanity of the CCP regime, which must rank alongside the Nazis, the Soviet Union and Pol Pot as among the most murderous and barbaric in modern history.

Fight is with CCP, not China

For many years I felt almost a lone voice, crying if not in the wilderness then certainly on the sidelines. Proponents of the so-called "Golden Era" of Sino-British relations found me an irritant. Yet now the world is waking up to the fact that the CCP is not only a danger to its own people but to us all.

Covid-19 began in Wuhan but, because the CCP repressed the truth rather than the virus, it became a global pandemic inflicting death and destruction everywhere. Senior British parliamentarians from Tom Tugendhat to Iain Duncan Smith, from Damian Green to David Davis, are now saying what I have been saying for years: we must completely recalibrate our policy towards the CCP.

But let me very clear: my fight — and ours — is with the CCP regime, not China or the Chinese people. Indeed, I try to be careful to avoid using "China" as shorthand when I mean the CCP. There are three reasons why this is vital.

The first is that anti-Chinese sentiment, like all forms of racism, is abhorrent and should have no place in society. I have repeatedly condemned the rising incidents of abuse and violence towards ethnic Chinese in Britain and beyond, and I will always do so.

It is not hard to distinguish between the CCP and ethnic Chinese people and we must do so. Just as most of us know the importance of drawing a distinction between radical Islamism as an ideology, jihadi violence as an act, Islam as a religion with a variety of traditions and interpretations and Muslims as people, or between criticism of Donald Trump and anti-Americanism, so we must learn to be critical of the CCP while opposing Sinophobia.

Secondly, the people of China are the primary victims of the CCP's brutal rule. I want my Chinese friends to be liberated from the regime's repression, not blamed for it.

Thirdly, failure to make the distinction risks playing into the CCP's nationalist narrative. They want the people of China to see this as a fight between China and the West, but we must make it a fight between tyranny and freedom, lies and truth, barbarity and humanity.

Indeed, I am pro-China — just anti-CCP. It is precisely because I love China that I am engaged in this fight. I would love to see China take its rightful place as a responsible power in the world, a friend and ally able to contribute to the betterment of humanity. The example of Taiwan — a flourishing democracy whose response to Covid-19 has been the epitome of responsibility in stark contrast with the regime across the straits — shows perfectly how this is possible. But only if the CCP is replaced.

I long for the day when I will be able to have dim sum with my friends in Hong Kong again, sleep on the Great Wall of China again, visit Qingdao again and walk at midnight again through the arches of the Forbidden City into Tiananmen Square, with Mao's portrait removed, honour those who gave their lives for the cause of freedom and celebrate the liberation of a great nation that has taught me so much.

But for now, my thoughts are with the courageous people of Hong Kong fighting to defend the front line of freedom for all of us — and the brave Chinese dissidents struggle to survive in the darkness. And I don't sleep easy at night without knowing that I and the free world have done our best to defend both.

• Benedict Rogers is a human rights activist and writer. He is the founder and chair of Hong Kong Watch, the co-founder and deputy chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, and East Asia team leader at international human rights organization CSW. First published in UCANews.com. Republished with permission.

In 2003, after the SARS epidemic, attempts were made to introduce a national security law.

Similarly, it is happening now as the coronavirus recedes. But this time we fear there will be no happy ending.

It is difficult to find words that we have not already written to tell about the danger Hong Kong is facing.

For some, we are alarmists: the tanks have not been seen in Hong Kong, and therefore we can think that things have not got out of hand.

The world has its head elsewhere, and we seem repetitive.

On May 18, 15 well-known leaders of the democratic opposition appeared in court. Their case will be resumed on June 15. For five of them, including our friend Lee Cheuk-yan, the charges have been extended, and they foresee very severe penalties, up to five years of imprisonment.

But the worst news comes from Beijing, where the National People's Congress has been formally endorsing what has already been decided by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the real body that governs China.

But even the Central Committee (politburo) counts less since President Xi Jinping concentrated all powers on himself, as only Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping had done in the past.

It is therefore a decision by Xi that we are talking about.

A bill has been introduced that sends a chill down the backs of those who love Hong Kong, its young students and its people, freedom and democracy.

The new law introduces national security regulations in Hong Kong. It will be included as a new "third annex" to the Basic Law, the mini-constitution that governs the "high degree of autonomy" of the city.

The law, which consists of seven articles, provides provisions punishing offenses such as treason, secession, sedition, subversion and foreign interference.

It is not difficult to imagine how the provisions will be conveniently used to suppress the popular protests that began in June 2019 and any other form of opposition.

With such laws in China, every form of dissent is condemned, with punishments up to the death penalty.

Particularly disturbing is the fourth article: "If necessary, the central government will establish bodies in Hong Kong with the task of implementing the safeguarding of national security."

This provision would lead to the emptying of the power of parliament and of the local government in favour of an entirely political office, which has never been seen in Hong Kong.

The drastic downsizing of the parliament is particularly concerning because in the elections due in September the opposition parties will have, according to all forecasts, a larger representation, as happened for the district elections of last November.

It will be the end of the "one country, two systems" framework and the "high degree of autonomy," the two principles that govern Hong Kong today.

We will have important tests in the coming weeks: the vigil for the massacre in Tiananmen Square on June 4; the first anniversary of the start of the protests on June 9; and the traditional protest march of July 1.

Can they be done? And how?

In the summer of 2003, as many certainly remember, attempts were made to introduce a national security law.

It happened in the aftermath of the SARS epidemic. But the then chief executive, the Beijing-appointed Tung Chee-hwa, withdrew the proposal after a single mass demonstration on July 1 of that fateful year. Various ministers resigned, and Tung himself paid the political price with his early departure from the political scene — a choice that restored some dignity to the man. And Hong Kong, for many more years, was saved.

Today's government, led by Carrie Lam, has faced hundreds of demonstrations, most of them more immense than that of July 1, 2003.

Carrie Lam, 'I am writing it with pain', will go down in Hong Kong history as the single political figure that has done the most damage ever.

There has been a new pandemic, and plans are back to introduce a liberticidal law that will not only prevent Hong Kong from having what it was promised — a progressive and full democratisation — but would also remove what it already has now.

Lam rushed to say that the Hong Kong government will "fully cooperate" in the implementation of this law.

The education minister says students will have to study it well.

There is a shiver!

Allan Lee, a long-time politician from the business world, founder of the Liberal Party and part of the pro-Chinese camp (he had been a communist as a boy), recently died.

He was perhaps little known internationally but in Hong Kong he was a familiar face.

I remember him well. He had the good of Hong Kong at heart: after the demonstration on July 1, 2003, he pledged to persuade Beijing to desist from the implementation of the national security law.

He had courage.

He was heard.

And Allan Lee, who in the meantime had become a moderate right-wing man, spent the last years of his life asking for full democracy and freedom for Hong Kong.

Today the pro-government camp lacks men with Allan Lee's wisdom.

In power today we have figures without political dignity and without courage, opportunists enslaved to the power of the strongest.

It is not true that democracy in Hong Kong is only wanted by "reckless young people" and "opponents without a sense of responsibility."

Hong Kong's democracy and freedom are a serious matter, desired by the best people of our beloved city.

After all, it is not difficult too difficult to understand what's going on.

Things are what they seem.

The threats of a regime opposed to freedom, democracy and human rights are not intended to strike emptily.

As long as possible, we will say it: the end of Hong Kong is being prepared.

• Father Gianni Criveller of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions is dean of studies and a teacher at PIME International Missionary School of Theology in Milan, Italy. He taught in Greater China for 27 years and is a lecturer in mission theology and the history of Christianity in China at the Holy Spirit Seminary College of Philosophy and Theology in Hong Kong.
• First published in UCANews.com. Republished with permission.

There will be no masses in Hong Kong before the end of this month, while in Singapore masses have been suspended until further notice.

Similarly, the Churches are suspending large public events such as formation sessions, retreats and seminars.

Hong Kong is home to around 500,000 Catholics out of a total population of over 7 million, while in Singapore Catholics make up 300,000 of the city-state's 5.6 million people.

"The Church, being a member of society, has the duty to maintain public hygiene and promote the common good. Therefore, Parish Priests, the other parish clergy and the faithful are to strictly comply," Hong Kong's Cardinal John Tong Hon Tong said.

Follow-up measures would be announced before the end of the month, he said.

As they cannot go to mass, Tong encouraged Hong Kong's faithful to watch Sunday Mass online, make a spiritual Communion, reflect on the Sunday liturgical text, read the Bible, or say the rosary each Sunday.

He also suggested that the faithful watch ferial Masses online, or make Lenten devotions or spiritual exercises, such as the rosary, the Angelus, and daily prayer.

"Parish churches and affiliated chapels are to remain open to the faithful for personal prayers and visits to the Blessed Sacrament," Tong said.

"Parish churches may also arrange for the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament daily or on specific days, so that individual members of the faithful may take part and pray that the coronavirus infections will be contained as soon as possible."

Archbishop William Goh Seng Chye told Singapore's 220,000 Catholic residents that the "the cancellation of Masses does not mean that Catholics can excuse themselves from fulfilling the obligation of keeping the Day of the Lord holy.

"They should try to follow the broadcast of the Mass on YouTube or CatholicSG Radio," he added. He asked that people please check the archdiocesan website for the broadcast's time.

"Following the broadcast of the Mass will help you to receive the Lord spiritually," he said. "You can also gather as a family for the Liturgy of the Word by spending time in prayer, reading the Word of God of the Sunday Liturgy and interceding for the world that this Covid-19 virus will be contained and eradicated.

"Even if you cannot gather together as a family to worship, you should individually spend at least half an hour in quiet time to pray and especially read the Word of God," Goh said.

Other Christian and Buddhist groups in Singapore have begun to record their services and rituals in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, while the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore has also encouraged mosques to do so for events.

Every Nation Church and Paya Lebar Methodist Church are two of the churches that will broadcast their upcoming Sunday services.

Source

• CNA
• The Tablet
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: The Star Online

The city's cardinal emeritus, who has been politically active in protests against any encroaching power by Beijing, used international media to take aim at the Holy See over its lack of support for the territory's democracy protests despite the pope recently speaking out in favour of protesters in Chile and Lebanon.

"But these protesters are not rioters. These are our children, fighting for our democratic rights, who are under attack. And they are being let down by law enforcement, local authorities — and the Vatican," Cardinal Zen, 87, wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post titled "What's behind the Vatican's silence on Hong Kong?"

"How sad it is to see our children beaten, humiliated, arrested and prosecuted. In the face of such injustice, several governments have spoken out despite risks to their economic interests in China. But there has been a corner of resounding silence. In all these months of demonstrations, the Vatican has not uttered a word of criticism toward Beijing".

"This is regrettable — but should not come as a surprise. The line followed by the Vatican in recent years when dealing with the threatening China giant has been appeasement at any cost."

Cardinal Zen has been a trenchant critic of the Vatican's September 2018 deal with Beijing on the appointment of bishops and he believes this has silenced Pope Francis on all things China.

He took particular aim at Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who "is the one who has his hands on the Chinese dossier. He clearly believes that such a position is necessary to open a new way for evangelisation of the immense Chinese nation. I have strong doubts."

Cardinal Zen attended an 800,000-strong street march in central Hong Kong on Dec. 8, International Human Rights Day, that was marred by arson attacks on the city's Court of Appeal and High Court building.

"We hope that everything will be carried out peacefully, we hope that everything can be done peacefully, and small things will be done," he had written on his Facebook site on Dec. 8.

"Don't get excited, don't be nervous and tolerate each other. Pray for God, the virgin gives us wisdom. We are in a city where God is caring and loving. The people around us are brothers and sisters on the left or right."

An overwhelming election victory.

The protest movement marked its six-month anniversary with a show of numbers not seen since the early months.

Two weeks earlier, anti-government parties won an overwhelming victory in council elections, taking the Hong Kong government and Beijing by surprise and underscoring widespread support for the protesters.

Police had given permission for the Dec. 8 march, changing tack from a more aggressive position that had seen protests turn increasingly violent.

"The government looks forward to working with the whole of society to curb violence, defend the rule of law and rebuild social order, and to find a way out of Hong Kong's deep problems through dialogue," a Hong Kong government spokesman said.

"During today's march, violence and illegal acts still occurred, especially the attack and arson against the Court of Final Appeal and the High Court. In a society with the rule of law, everyone must respect courts, judges and their decisions."

Cardinal Zen's critique came only a week after the president of the Communist Party-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, Bishop Fang Xingyao, said that "love for the homeland must be greater than the love for the Church," adding that the "law of the country is above canon law."

Despite silence from the Vatican on Hong Kong, the city's diocese has supported protesters.

Cardinal John Tong Hon, 80, who was brought out of retirement by the pope on the death of Bishop Michael Yeung in January, has supported protesters and many of their demands, while Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing has been regularly visible in his support of protesters, including those barricaded by police inside universities in recent months.

Source: www.ucanews.com. Republished with permission.

CNA reports the excessive force was deployed as peaceful pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong escalated into violence.

Video on social media shows at least four riot police officers entering offices at the Church and violently subduing a protester.

Another angle of the incident shows a police officer planting a hammer into the backpack of a protester as he lay prostrate.

Claims on social media implicating a deacon working at the Church as having called the police have been countered.

The Church says the deacon hurried to the scene as soon as the police began making the arrests.

"On his arrival, however, those protesters were already under arrest and shortly later they were escorted to the police car and taken away. Therefore, it was in fact not Deacon Simon Chan himself who allowed the police to enter the church compound," the diocese said.

In response to queries as to why the church allowed the police to enter to arrest the protesters, the diocese stated, "there is no way for a church to guarantee that those who enter it will not be arrested according to the law."

"We deeply regret that the above incident has taken place."

"It is our earnest hope that the current turmoil in Hong Kong will come to an end and that the local situation will be back to normal as soon as possible," the diocese concluded.

The largely peaceful protests began earlier in the year.

The protests are in response to a proposal in the Hong Kong legislature that will allow mainland China to extradite alleged criminals from Hong Kong.

Christians and advocates have widely opposed the bill.

They fear the Chinese government will use the powers to further tighten its grip on the free exercise of religion.

• Source: CNA

But over the past year, has likely learned as much about both subjects in the streets of his home city as he has in the classroom.

Since June, Catholics like Chow, along with hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens, have participated in widespread protests against the mainland Chinese government as well as rulers of semi-autonomous Hong Kong.

Chow just finished his term as president of the Hong Kong Federation of Catholic Students, whose 50 or so active members are decidedly pro-democracy, and have participated in demonstrations against the city's government as well as China's rulers in Beijing.

"We want a government elected by the Hong Kong people, and we want autonomy for the people," he told Angelus News in an interview.

"I think if (mainland China) really takes over Hong Kong, of course, they will suppress the religious freedom of Hong Kong."

Chinese Catholics have held prayer vigils during the protests, organized information sessions about the movement and even extended material aid to protesters, Chow said.

He noted that even though Catholics are a minority, making up about 5% of the population, many of them, particularly younger Catholics, support the hundreds of thousands who have turned out for various events to publicly resist Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam's administration.

"Some people feel religion should be separate from politics," Chow said, noting some older Hong Kong Catholics question how vocal they should be against the government.

"I think our religion is about society, and we should care about society, and we should participate in society."

On that note, hundreds of Catholics attended a special public service Oct. 26, where Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing asked people to pray the rosary daily as a form of nonviolent resistance.

Chi-Shing also repeated his previous calls for an independent commission to investigate government actions during the crisis. Continue reading

Christians and pro-democracy supporters are worried the Chinese government could make another attempt to ramrod legislation in Hong Kong that would specifically target the faith community and strip basic human rights.

Before the bill was withdrawn, it triggered three months of unrest. Read more

More than 200 people gathered to voice their concerns over a deal they say will "sell out" faithful Chinese Catholics.

"It's a precarious situation. There's a real danger of division," a priest said.

Those attending the vigil share Hong Kong Cardinal Zen's concerns.

After visiting the Pope in January, Zen said he thought the Vatican is selling out the Catholic Church in China.

In China Catholics are split between those in the "underground" Church who are loyal to the Pope and the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association. The government association appoints bishops without Rome's approval.

Protesters say the proposed deal would give the Vatican a say in the appointment of Chinese bishops in exchange for recognising ones already appointed by the Chinese government.

A group of Catholics have signed an open letter warning of "schism" if the deal goes ahead.

The letter says the bishops appointed by Beijing "do not have the trust of the faithful, and have never repented publicly.

"We fully understand that the Holy See is eager to be able to evangelize in China more effectively. However, we are deeply worried that the deal would create damages that cannot be remedied," the letter says.

It continues: "If they were to be recognized as legitimate, the faithful in Greater China would be plunged into confusion and pain, and schism would be created in the Church in China."

"We are worried that the agreement would not only fail to guarantee the limited freedom desired by the Church, but also damage the Church's holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity, and deal a blow to the Church's moral power.

"We earnestly ask you, with the love of the people of God, appeal to the Holy See: Please rethink the current agreement, and stop making an irreversible and regrettable mistake."

Source

• Lifesite
• Catholic Herald
• Image: VOA News

The church is also encouraging more young people to join the priesthood. Read more

Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong was not invited to participate in October's synod because he is older than 75, UCA News reported.

"Now I know that I am not going to the synod," the 76-year-old cardinal told ucanews.com in a late August interview.

The normal retirement age for bishops is 75.

The cardinal said he was told by a Vatican representative that the Vatican "does not want to make any exceptions" regarding age.

Cardinal Tong said he was unaware if another representative from Hong Kong was chosen in his place.

He knew only that he was "disqualified by age", he said, laughing.

"They will find somebody . . . if they need somebody," the cardinal said.

Pope Francis is 78 years old.

Synod participants in general are elected by local bishops' conferences.

Hong Kong, a former British colony and the largest Chinese diocese in the world with a Catholic population of 560,000, remains a mission area and does not have its own bishops' conference.

Some Hong Kong Catholics expressed disappointment that the diocese may not be represented at the synod.

"It is a pity that no one from Hong Kong is going," said Francis Law, a member of a Chinese Facebook page called "Catholic Parents".

Mr Law said Hong Kong Catholics could contribute to discussions at the synod, expressing concerns about recent developments on same-sex unions around the world, particularly in the United States.

"These kinds of voices needs to be brought to the synod," said Mr Law, who is a member of the Diocesan Youth Commission.

Cardinal Tong participated in last year's extraordinary family synod.

The cardinal said he agreed family and marriage are the most fundamental issues facing the Church and believes the synod fathers will find ways to resolve outstanding issues in line with the Pope's vision.

Sources

• UCA News
• National Catholic Reporter
• Catholic Hierarchy
• Image: South China Morning Post