(New York) Human Rights Watch today urged Hong Kong Chief Executive C.H. Tung to affirm his commitment to protecting freedom of association and assembly, especially when the exercise of those freedoms angers Beijing.
The appeal came as Chinese officials increased pressure on the Hong Kong government to clamp down on activities of the meditation group Falun Gong. On Wednesday, local human rights groups expressed deep concern over statements of a spokesman for the mainland government's Liaison Office. The official warned that Beijing would not allow anyone to turn Hong Kong into a center for Falun Gong activities and an "anti-China base." Falun Gong is legally registered under the Societies Ordinance in Hong Kong, has broken no laws, and has done nothing that could remotely be considered a public disturbance.
"That Beijing could even think of pressing Hong Kong to move against the group is ominous," said Sidney Jones, Asia director of Human Rights Watch in New York. "This kind of statement should have prompted an immediate rejoinder from C.H. Tung, and yet all we've heard is deafening silence."
Despite a nearly two year campaign against Falun Gong by the Chinese government, Hong Kong's Leisure and Culture Services Department allowed the group's local branch to rent out City Hall for a major meeting on January 14. Yesterday's warning from the Liaison Office was followed by calls from pro-Beijing business people and politicians in Hong Kong to strip Falun Gong of its status as a registered society. It was also followed by a worrisome editorial in the privately owned South China Morning Post, warning human rights activists to be careful about which causes they take up.
The warnings on Falun Gong are the latest in a series of incidents that have led many in the human rights community to worry about the erosion of political freedom in Hong Kong. Those incidents include the Hong Kong's government's January 18 decision to ask the Court of Final Appeal to seek Beijing's guidance on a right of abode case involving a three-year-old Chinese boy, raising new questions about the judiciary's independence. Another cause for concern was the denial of visas in mid-December to four outspoken scholars invited to speak at a seminar organized by the University of Hong Kong. The seminar was entitled "The Responses of Intellectuals to the Challenges of the 21st Century in China and Eastern Europe." Questions of censorship in the press and in the academic community have also worried those who track developments in Hong Kong.
