MEPs call on EU to provide ‘lifeboat policy’ for persecuted Hong Kong dissidents
Demand follows arrest of prominent pro-democracy advocates by China.
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08 Jan 2021
Senior figures in the EU have rounded on China over Beijing s latest crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong.
The strong rebuke comes after Hong Kong police arrested 53 people in dawn raids on democracy activists on Wednesday, in the biggest crackdown since China last year imposed a security law which opponents say is aimed at quashing dissent in the former British colony.
Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy advocates were arrested in raids on 72 premises as the authorities said last year’s unofficial vote to choose opposition candidates in city elections was part of a plan to “overthrow” the government.
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As the home of American democracy was stormed on Tuesday, Hong Kong s democracy was being slaughtered.
From Xi Jinping s perspective, the timing of America s Capitol chaos must have been perfect. Absorbed by riots in Washington, D.C., the world missed what Xi s minions were up to in the former British colony. Taking advantage of this situation, Beijing s Western-focused
Global Times outlet argued that there is no doubt that the U.S. system is degrading and showing signs of worsening as cancer.
But we should pay close heed to what the Chinese Communist Party was up to. Because it was to Hong Kong democracy what the November 1938 Nazi Kristallnacht was to the Jews of Germany that is to say, a pogrom-style purge of human freedom. On Tuesday, 53 democracy activists were arrested in raids across Hong Kong. Independent newspapers were also targeted, including the
Ahead of the launch of the UK’s BNO visa - exclusively for Hong Kong nationals - on January 31, new research shows that Britain has emerged as the relocation destination of choice for citizens of the Special Administrative Region. In December 2020, Workpermit.com reported that the UK government had underestimated the take-up of the BNO visa.
The BNO visa was launched by the UK government in response to controversial security laws imposed on Hong Kong by China. The new research shows that the number of Hong Kong nationals considering a move to the UK has risen by almost 50 percent.
Meanwhile, there has also been increased interest in moves to Australia, Canada and the US, countries which have relaxed visa rules for Hong Kong citizens since China introduced stringent security laws.