Hong Kong – A Personal Request 

The feeling is surreal when you are sitting in a comfortable office, knowing that your people in another part of the word are defending, with their bodies against bullets, freedom and the rule of law. So, I wrote this short article for your information. And I hope you might spend a couple of minutes reading it and considering responding. 

You will have all seen on the news the extraordinary protests in Hong Kong. They started with mass mobilisations such as a two-million people march in June in opposition to an ‘extradition bill’ that would have bridged between the British Common Law system in Hong Kong and the opaque Chinese legal system. While the Hong Kong government withdrew the bill after three months of continuous protests, the protests have been met with deadly force by the police, and the protestors’ demands have broadened to police accountability and universal suffrage.

Background

Universal suffrage was promised in the Basic Law, the constitution of Hong Kong agreed by the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China in 1984. In this agreement – by the name of ‘Sino-British Joint Declaration’ – Hong Kong was also promised autonomy via the freedom of speech, press, religion, and other forms of basic rights in the liberal West for 50 years after the handover in 1997.

Sadly, in 2017 China publicly proclaimed the document ‘historical’ and ‘no longer had any practical significance’. This proclamation was accompanied by numerous infringements of the freedoms. Now China has announced that the High Court of Hong Kong has no right to interpret the Basic Law.

Meanwhile, the brotherhood and sisterhood of Hong Kongers only grows, both locally and internationally. The church group ‘Protect the Kids’, consisting of people from their 30s to 70s, vows to be the barrier between the police and the young protestors, buying more time for the latter to retreat during conflicts. They risk their lives – in a way walking Jesus’s path. Catholic Bishop Joseph Ha, American pastor William Devlin, countless lay and clergy leaders, and social workers are doing crucial pastoral work in difficult situations.  

International Response

Pro-Hong Kong protests now take place weekly around the globe, from London to Edinburgh, Prague to Chicago, Sydney to Tokyo.

In the UK politicians have also reacted . The outgoing speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, who hosted the launch of Hong Kong Watch two years ago, issued an appeal to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, to use her authority to order the Hong Kong police force to show restraint.

Heather Wheeler, MP of South Derbyshire and Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, is considering introduction sanction laws against individuals in Hong Kong found guilty of human rights abuses.

The House of Lords debated granting second citizenship to Hong Kongers. Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, spoke. It was recognised that moving to this country was not Hong Kongers’ best or favoured  option, but it should be an option.. Even in the midst of important domestic issues in this country, the moral obligation of the British people toward Hong Kongers should not be neglected.

Over 100,000 UK residents have signed a petition to support Hong Kongers being given a right to British Citizenship. The response from Government was not helpful but this petition will have to be considered for debate in the new parliament. 

A Practical Response – will you help?

As a practical response, I have drafted letters about the issues to Dominic Raab MP (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs), Emily Thornberry MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs), Tom Tugendhat MP (Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee), Bob Seely MP (Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee), Heather Wheeler MP, and Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons. The letters call for the UK government to (i) issue an unequivocal condemnation; (ii) impose sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong leaders for allowing the appalling acts that have violated basic human rights, (iii) consider strong and appropriate trade or economic sanctions, and (iv) grant ‘second citizenship’ to Hong Kongers, including the British National (Overseas) passport holders and Hong Kongers born after 1997.

I am asking whether you would consider supporting those of us from Hong Kong by signing such a letter. I’m aiming to get 100 letters of support. I know this is not a matter for the NCIs but I hope that colleagues individually may be willing to assist. Every signature and every letter matter. Feel free to share this message with your family and friends, but when you do so, please make sure you sign it yourself!

I have printed out copies of the letter and put packs of them in Room 203. If you agree with its points, will you sign it and write your name, city and postcode? Let me have signed copies back and I’ll happily post them for you. Please use this link if you wish to have the text I to customize your letter, using this as your first draft. I’ll respond to queries after working hours. A brief instruction sheet is attached for your convenience with the draft letters in the letter packs.

 (Room 203 is the ‘social room’. If you take the main lift, go out, turn left and you’ll see the second-floor reception. Turn right and walk through the Church Commissioners. Keep going and open the big wooden doors. You will see signs that point you to Room 203 by that point.) 

From Hope to Action

Hong Kongers don’t operate on hope anymore. We operate in search of hope; we act because there are no other options. One of the protestors put it this way: “resist with all your might, because if you lose once, there will be a catastrophe for your people, and the world will ignore it.”

The is only a slimmer of hope for Hong Kongers if there is international pressure on Beijing. If things go our way, Hong Kong shall have full democracy - be able to enjoy universal suffrage and elect our own leader (Chief Executive) and legislators. Lord Alton of Liverpool recently wrote, ‘as a slow-motion Tiananmen Square unfolds, will you stand with Hong Kong?’

I know not everyone will agree with me or with this request but I hope you would read it and consider supporting me and all in Hong Kong at this time. Every letter and word of support helps and at a personal; level helps to hold together a colleague whose heart every morning is in small, sharp, irregular pieces like a broken wine bottle.

For the people of Hong Kong I thank you.

P. S. Thank you to the colleagues who read earlier versions of this article and for their advice and support.