Government Honours Loyalty

Lee given the highest award, the Grand Bauhinia Medal

The Hong Kong government has released its 2022 Hong Kong Honours List, and former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor made sure she recognised those who stuck by her through thick and thin.

Most notable?

The Grand Bauhinia Medal is awarded to seven people, including current leader John Lee Ka-chiu. Even though he and Lam blundered in proposing the extradition bill in 2019 that led to massive street protests and stepping up violent police action against the protesters.

Chan bungled Covid response but still awarded

Instead he is recognised for his "dedicated and distinguished public service to the Government and the Hong Kong community over the past 44 years, particularly his sterling contributions during his tenure as the Secretary for Security and the Chief Secretary for Administration," the citation reads. 

"With his strong commitment to Hong Kong and outstanding ability and experience in public administration, he assisted the then Chief Executive in rising to the challenges and played an instrumental role in co-ordination in policy formulation and implementation, making significant contributions to Hong Kong."

Others who were rewarded for their loyalty include: former secretary for food and health Sophia Chan Siu-chee, pro-Beijing executive councillor Ronny Tong Ka-wah, former secretary for education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung (formally he has dropped "Chris"), former secretary for transport and housing Frank Chan Fan, and ICAC head Simon Peh Yun-lu.

Dover led police response to protests in 2019

Another notable person is assistant commissioner of police Rupert Dover, who lead the operations against the protesters in 2019, and Peter Lam Kin-ngok, owner of various restaurants including three Michelin starred 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo, former chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board and now the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council.

On Twitter people were wondering how Lee will award himself his own medal...

Other notable honourees who deserve the recognition include Olympic cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze, radio DJ Reinaldo Maria Cordeiro otherwise known as Uncle Ray, Olympic swimmer Siobhan Bernadette Haughey, and fencer Cheung Ka-long.

Cheung won gold in fencing in Tokyo Olympics

While no date has been set yet on when the actual awards will be handed out, we are still wondering... will Lee just pin the medal on himself?

Hong Kong in the Hot Seat

The HK delegation answered UNHRC questions via video link

Finally some kind of accountability is taking place -- the United Nations Human Rights Committee began its review of Hong Kong's rights record for the first time since Beijing implemented the national security law in July 2020.

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai and other senior officials weren't in Geneva but attended the meeting via a video link.

Bulkan asking for reassurance for CSOs

He gave a speech that was just under 20 minutes long, stating the government had done much to protect people's rights in Hong Kong.

"Safeguarding human rights and freedoms is a constitutional duty of the HKSAR government. The government attaches the utmost importance and it is firmly committed to the protection of human rights, which has been upheld firmly and across the board by all our government bureaux and departments," Tsang said.

He even added that Chinese President Xi Jinping said the "one country, two systems" principle is working well and is recognised by 1.4 billion Chinese people and the international community.

The implementation of the national security law and the overhaul of the electoral system, Tsang said, was necessary in the wake of the 2019 protests.

However this reasoning did not go down well with UN committee members.

Chow says no protesters killed

"I note, honourable secretary, your comment about the events that precipitated this law, but I must observe that it was done overnight, without consultation, and bypassing the local legislature," noted Guyanese lawyer and the committee's vice chair Christopher Arif Bulkan.

He asked the Hong Kong officials if civil society organisations (CSO) taking part in this review would be violating the national security law.

"Can you provide assurances that the CSOs who participate here today, and over the next three days, are not in danger of prosecution or victimisation under the NSL, for such engagement?" Bulkan asked.

While the Hong Kong authorities sought to assuage concerns that CSOs would not be targeted under NSL, the committee was not convinced, and again asked for assurances.

Apollonia Liu of the security bureau replied that the NSL does not target "normal interactions" such as participation in this review.

Another vice chair from Japan, Shuichi Furuya, also expressed concerns about the overreaching nature of the law and its broad scope.

He said the committee had received reports from organisations overseas who said they received requests from Hong Kong authorities to remove content that may violate NSL.

Other committee members said the police consistently violated international standards in excessive, indiscriminate response to the protests, to which deputy commissioner of police Joe Chow described them as "riots", and that "certain media" falsely accused the police "to purposely divide society, incite hatred and compromise national security."

"We are extremely restrained in the use of force," he said. "Not a single protester was killed... even under the serious situation. This showed the professionalism of my staff."

Chow added no protesters were killed during the social unrest, and that the police seized Molotov cocktails, and that protesters killed a cleaner with bricks.

Meanwhile questions about NSL cases regarding Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, Chow Hang-tung and Tong Ying-kit were not answered.

Probably the usual excuse of not commenting on individual cases...

But the committee pressed on, reiterating its previous recommendation that Hong Kong should have an independent mechanism to conduct an investigation into police abuses. However, Shirley Yung said the current complaints mechanisms like Complaints Against Police Office and the Independent Police Complaints Council are fair and adequate.

Gaslighting at its finest.

The UNHRC also pointed out how NSL judges threaten judicial independence, but Liu replied that the chief executive does not assign the judge to a particular case so judicial independence is not undermined.

But the chief executive can choose which judges can oversee NSL cases, which pre-determines the result of the case! 

There were also questions about the LeaveHomeSafe app and if it really did collect people's information.

And then, what do you know -- the Hong Kong delegation is having technical difficulties with their video link!

 

Apparently the Hong Kong group was not attending in person because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but perhaps Tsang did not want to risk US sanctions? Or pulling the plug was one of the strategies all along?

In any event, the discussion or rather the grilling continues on Tuesday -- with extra time tacked on because it was suddenly cut short on Thursday.

We'll be watching...

Waving the Patriotic Flag

Flag fanatics decorated Kam Shek House in red flags

In the run up to the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover, someone in two housing estates in Kwun Tong decided to be very patriotic and decorated the entire Lam Shek House and Kam Shek House with alternating Chinese and Hong Kong flags hanging on every level of above the courtyard.

Some flags were found to be desecrated

Of course the Bauhinia flag is markedly smaller than the Chinese one...

Pictures of it went viral on social media and yesterday the police received a report that 12 of the national flags at Lam Shek House were desecrated, some with black stains on the big stars, while one flag at the housing estate and another at Kam Shek House were stolen.

Some uniformed police collected the desecrated flags, putting them in plastic bags for investigation and no one has been arrested yet.

Eventually all the flags were taken down probably as a precaution.

This exercise in extreme patriotism in Hong Kong is a touchy subject to say the least. While residents accept that the city is a part of China, it isn't quite ready for the show of nationalism that mainlanders expect. 

The push for patriotism is overwhelmingly red

And the government's efforts in trying to shove patriotism down residents' throats isn't helpful either, fuelling further frustration. The 2019 protests are still raw in people's minds, and they are still trying to process what has happened in the last three years, particularly after the implementation of the national security law.

Forcing people to celebrate an anniversary that seems bleaker by the day is hardly something worth rejoicing about. And the red flags seem to inflame people even more.

At least all the flags were removed and maybe the mastermind will have learned his/her lesson.

But wait -- the Hong Kong police are adopting the "goose-step" used in China from July 1.

"To promote patriotism and enhance the awareness of national identity, the Hong Kong Police Force will fully adopt Chinese foot drills from July 1," the HKPF said in a statement.

HKPF will debut its goose-stepping style July 1

Last year the People's Liberation Army trained Hong Kong police cadets the goose-step style where soldiers march without bending their knees.

Sounds painful... on the knees!

In the meantime it's been reported the two senior government officials who caught Covid-19 a few days ago have now tested negative.

Eric Chan Kwok-ki and Erick Tsang Kwok-wai have started to test negative, and if they have two more negative tests, then they could possibly attend Friday's ceremony at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. 

The government will have the final say if Chan and Tsang can attend in person. 

And still no word on Xi Jinping coming or not... 

Is He or Isn't He?

Xi has yet to announce if he's attending in person or not

Hong Kong has had over 1,000 Covid-19 cases a day, today there are over 1,700. The Centre for Health Protection has warned it could go over the 2,000 mark soon.

It seemed the chances of Chinese President Xi Jinping coming to Hong Kong would be slimmer by the day.

So it was very surprising to the territory that a few hours ago Xinhua announced that Xi will attend the 25th anniversary of the handover celebrations and swear in John Lee Ka-chiu as the next chief executive.

Chan (left) and Tsang have tested positive

The key word is "attend", as it was not clear if he would come in person, or participate virtually. Zoom, perhaps?

Originally guests attending the event would have to quarantine in the hotels near the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre for seven days, but that has been cut to one day, but not the battery of PCR tests.

It was also reported yesterday that incoming chief secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki and constitutional and mainland affairs minister Erick Tsang Kwok-wai both tested positive for Covid-19. 

There were concerns that Chan may have infected Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor as he spoke to her on Monday, but the media was told that both were wearing masks and at a distance from each other so she was not considered a close contact.

No Penny's Bay for her...

Leung advises swearing-in ceremony kept simple

Infectious disease expert Leung Chi-chiu of Chinese University says it's hard to tell how quickly Chan and Tsang will recover and if they can attend the July 1 ceremony.

"Because most of our senior officials have been undergoing Covid-19 testing regularly, their recent positive tests might indicate that they have just developed the disease. For that, because of the new onset disease, it's difficult to tell at this moment whether their disease course will be short enough to have completed recovery by July 1," Leung said.

He suggested that the ceremony next week be kept as simple as possible, and everyone have their masks on and avoid mingling too much. 

But back to Xi... what are the chances of him actually coming in person next Friday?