{"id":2936,"date":"2020-06-01T02:46:46","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T02:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/?p=2936"},"modified":"2020-06-01T02:46:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T02:46:46","slug":"open-letter-hold-china-accountable-for-crushing-dissent-in-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/open-letter-hold-china-accountable-for-crushing-dissent-in-hong-kong\/","title":{"rendered":"OPEN LETTER: Hold China Accountable for Crushing Dissent in Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Kowloon, Hong Kong – October 20, 2019: A group of Hong Kong police carry weapon and shields during the demonstration, protest in Hong Kong, China. (istockphoto\/credit: Nikada)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To President Trump, the United States Congress and the\nUnited Nations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A peaceful and prosperous Hong Kong poses an existential\nthreat to the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s narrative that Chinese people cannot\nthrive under freedom and democracy.  The\nCCP has circumvented the rule of law by issuing a National Security Law that\nwould crush all dissent in Hong Kong.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We call upon President Trump, the United States Congress, the\nUnited Nations, and governments of free nations all over the world, to set aside\nall political differences and continue to take bold action to hold China\naccountable for its hubris.   We commend President Trump\u2019s promise to end\nHong Kong\u2019s trading privileges, as well as the joint statement issued by the\ngovernments of the United States, UK, Australia and Canada, condemning China\u2019s\nviolation of the \u201cone country, two systems\u201d policy promised in the 1997\ntransfer of power from British to Chinese rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Britain agreed to return Hong Kong to China in 1997,\nChina agreed to afford Hong Kong protection of a \u201chigh degree of autonomy\u201d in\ngovernment, law and finances for 50 years, until 2047.   Abrogating this autonomy, the National\nPeople\u2019s Congress (NPC) has passed a law bypassing Hong Kong\u2019s own Legislative\nCouncil.   The CCP-owned China Daily<\/em> stated<\/a> that the new law is intended to \u201cprevent,\nfrustrate and punish any secessionist or subversive activity, the organizing of\nterrorist acts, and other acts that seriously threaten national security as\nwell as activities of foreign and external interference in Hong Kong.\u201d  Indeed, according to a top CCP official\nquoted in China Daily,<\/em> its intent is\nmerely \u201cto protect Hong Kong residents from the criminal acts of a small number\nof extremists.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, however, this law can be used to crush free\nspeech, criticism, protest and dissent.   Countless Chinese dissidents have been jailed\non groundless charges of \u201csubversion,\u201d including Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu\nXiaobo<\/a>, who in 2009 was sentenced to 11 years in prison for calling for\ndemocratic reform.  He died while serving\nhis sentence. Hong Kong activists rightly fear that this new law will render\ndissent, or even political discourse, a criminal offense.  It represents the end of \u201cone country, two\nsystems.\u201d   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Equally worrisome, the new law implies that security forces from\nmainland China<\/a>, such as the Ministry of State Security, will be set up in\nHong Kong.  According to a second article in China Daily<\/em><\/a>,<\/em>  \u201cThe NPC draft decision has also stipulated that organs of\nnational security of the central government will set up agencies in Hong Kong,\nwhose operation will be according to law.\u201d The people of Hong Kong mounted\nmassive protests to prevent extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China.  Now, the dreaded national security apparatus\nof mainland China will take residence in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stand with the people of Hong Kong, who have suffered so\nterribly in their struggle to maintain the autonomy promised them.  We commend the actions the U.S. government has\nalready taken to disengage economically from the PRC, including the May 27\ndeclaration that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous, and President Trump\u2019s\nannouncement that the US will end Hong Kong\u2019s trade privileges. These tragic\nactions should be blamed on the CCP, whose shameless maneuvers and raw power\ngrabs have brought us to this point.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The global community needs to protect international security\nand economic interests.  On the table\nshould be various economic and financial sanctions, such as those recommended\nby the Committee on the Present Danger:  China<\/a>. In addition, we need to hold individuals\naccountable through the Global Magnitsky Act. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also need to increase our commitment to the people of\nTaiwan, especially in light of the ominous statement by a top Chinese general\nthat China\nwill attack Taiwan<\/a> to stop independence. \nHong Kong now, Taiwan next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taiwan\nis opening its arms<\/a> to Hong Kong citizens who want to resettle in the face\nof the tightening grip of the CCP.   We\ncall upon the United States and governments the world over to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While our two organizations advocate for women\u2019s rights, we\nnote that half of the people of Hong Kong are female, including many brave\nprotesters.  Our organizations will, as\nalways, do our part to assist women and children persecuted by China\u2019s\nauthoritarian regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President, Women\u2019s Rights Without\nFrontiers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jing Zhang, Founder and President, Women\u2019s Rights in China<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To President Trump, the United States Congress and the United Nations: A peaceful and prosperous Hong Kong poses an existential threat to the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s narrative that Chinese people cannot thrive under freedom and democracy.  The CCP has circumvented … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2938,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions\/2938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}