Joshua Wong and other Occupy leaders nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Joshua Wong and fellow activists Nathan Law and Alex Chow have their names put forward to committee in Oslo for their peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to city
By Ng Kang-chung

A US congressional group has nominated Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung and two allies who led the 2014 Occupy protests for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The names of Joshua Wong, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Alex Chow Yong-kang, as well as the entire campaign popularly known as the “umbrella movement”, were put forward to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo by a group of 12 US congressmen.
This is the first time there has been a nominee from Hong Kong.
But the news is likely to ruffle feathers in Beijing, which sees the West’s support of the Hong Kong democracy movement as interference in China’s domestic affairs.
The submission was made “in recognition of [the trio’s] peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong and protect the autonomy and freedom guaranteed Hong Kong in the Sino-British Joint Declaration”, according to a letter by the congressmen to the committee.
According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, qualified nominators include members of national assemblies and national governments, university professors and rectors, as well as former peace prize winners.
If selected, Wong, 21, could become the second youngest Nobel laureate; Law, 24, the third; and Chow, 27, the fifth.
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17, is the youngest to have received the award.
In their letter dated January 31 – the last day of the nomination period – the congressmen highlighted the trio’s “leadership roles” in the Occupy campaign through which “other pro-democracy politicians and supporters … took part in the largest pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong’s history”.
The three activists were also praised for their demonstration of “civic courage, extraordinary leadership and an unwavering commitment to a free and prosperous Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law, political freedoms and human rights”.
The 2014 mass sit-ins saw major roads in downtown Hong Kong blocked by tens of thousands of protesters voicing opposition to Beijing’s restrictive framework on a plan for Hongkongers to elect the city’s leader.
Umbrellas became an icon of the campaign as they were used by protesters to shield themselves against pepper spray by police.
The campaign however ended up going nowhere and was dissolved after 79 days.
Subsequently, some of the key Occupy activists, including Wong, Law and Chow, were charged and jailed for various imaginary offences.
The congressmen said in their letter: “Wong, Law and Chow and the entire ‘umbrella movement’ embody the peaceful aspirations of the people of Hong Kong who yearn to see their autonomy and way of life protected and their democratic aspirations fulfilled.
“The umbrella movement and its leadership are acting in the long tradition of previous Nobel Peace Prize laureates who captured the imagination of their fellow countrymen and sought principled and peaceful change from within.”
The congressmen also highlighted the subsequent jailing of the trio and Law’s disqualification as a lawmaker “after the Chinese central government issued an interpretation of the Basic Law deeming certain previously acceptable oath-taking behaviours … as punishable by disqualification”.
The Basic Law is Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

Republican senator Marco Rubio

“Joshua Wong’s sentiments on Twitter immediately after the announcement of his prison sentence capture well the optimistic and persistent spirit that animates their efforts: ‘The government can lock up our bodies but they cannot lock up our minds! We want democracy in Hong Kong. And we will not give up.’”
The letter was jointly signed by 12 congressmen, including Republican senator Marco Rubio and representative Christopher Smith, as well as four of their colleagues in the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, of which Rubio and Smith are chairman and co-chairman respectively.
Last year, the commission highlighted in its annual report the deterioration of human rights in China and also expressed concern over Hong Kong’s press freedom as well as the disqualification of lawmakers.
Rubio and Smith then also stated their intention to nominate the three activists and the entire “umbrella movement” for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.
Calling the trio “champions of peace and freedom and Hong Kong’s entire pro-democracy movement”, the congressmen also noted the Nobel Committee’s “past willingness to brave the displeasure and outright retribution” of China in awarding the prize to political dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010.
Liu was jailed for what Beijing called “inciting subversion of state power”.
Mainland authorities criticised the awarding of the prize to him as “politically motivated”.
The laureate was barred from going to accept his prize.
His absence was marked at the ceremony by an empty chair.
Liu died last year, becoming the first Nobel Peace Prize recipient to perish in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who died in 1938 after years in a Nazi concentration camp.
The Nobel laureates are to be selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Winners will be announced in October, with the awards ceremony in December.
Law Yuk-kai, director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, said the trio deserved the recognition.
“Participants in the ‘umbrella movement’ insisted on making the campaign peaceful and orderly – that deserves international recognition,” Law said.
“If they win the prize, Hong Kong’s social movements will enjoy the moral high ground.”

More Hong Kong lawmakers at risk of losing office as China equates self-determination with independence

By Ellie Ng

Basic Law Committee Chair Li Fei has said that self-determination is the same as Hong Kong independence and therefore contravenes the territory’s mini-constitution. 

Analysts say that lawmakers who challenge China’s sovereignty will be at risk of disqualification despite having been sworn-in.
The comment came shortly after China’s top legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), voted on and passed the NPCSC’s interpretation of the Basic Law Article 104 of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region with unanimous support on Monday. 

It is the fifth Basic Law interpretation since the 1997 handover.

Self-determination
Li said that concepts such as national self-determination and the Hong Kong nation are “essentially” the same as Hong Kong independence, which would contravene the Basic Law which states that Hong Kong is an “inalienable” part of China. 

It would also damage the territory’s rule of law, social order and economy, he said.
Li added that pledging loyalty to Hong Kong and not China practically means support for Hong Kong independence.
Although Li referred to “national self-determination,” which is advocated by the Youngspiration party, there are concerns that advocates of “democratic self-determination” – such as the Demosistō party and independent lawmakers Lau Siu-lai and Edward Yiu Chung-yim – will also be affected.
The latest NPCSC interpretation of the Basic Law said that oaths taken by public officers such as lawmakers and judges are legally binding. 

It warns that those who make a “false oath” or break their oath will be disqualified from assuming public office and bear “legal consequences.”

Lau Siu-lai. 

‘Lawmakers at risk of disqualification’
Lau Siu-kai, former top policy adviser to the government, said on an RTHK programme on Monday that Beijing needed to interpret the Basic Law to make clear its strong stance against moves that could harm China’s national interests. 

The introduction of a national security law would not have effectively solved the imminent issue, he added.
He said the future of Hong Kong should be decided by the whole of China, and that the territory has no right to become independent.
Lau added that the scale of the pro-independence camp in Hong Kong is not big compared with those in Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang. 

Nonetheless, he said, the Chinese government cannot tolerate pro-independence forces in Hong Kong.

The professor predicted that Youngspiration’s Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Leung Chung-hang are very likely going to be disqualified as lawmakers. 

But the interpretation does not only target the pair; it also aims at provide legal guidance for other oath-taking events, he said.
He cannot rule out the possibility of people filing judicial reviews against lawmakers such as Lau Siu-lai, one of the self-determination advocates in the legislature.
Any lawmakers who advocate independence or challenge China’s sovereignty will be disqualified, as they will have broken the oath, Lau Siu-kai said. 

He added that it would depend on how the authorities handled Monday’s interpretation by the NPCSC.

Criticism
IT sector lawmaker Charles Mok criticised Li’s comment for adding words to the interpretation, which did not mention “self-determination.”
“What do you mean by ‘essentially’? You think you are the law, but let us tell you: you have not solved the problem, but have only made it bigger,” Mok said.
Activist Joshua Wong of the Demosistō party said: “Democratic self-determination means allowing Hongkongers to decide the future of Hong Kong by democratic means. Today, the Chinese Communist Party characterised it as independence.”

Joshua Wong

“It looks like the day when Beijing equates anti-Article-23 [security law] and ‘end one-party rule’ with fueling pro-independence forces is not far away,” Wong said.
Wong’s former colleague Tommy Cheung, one of the student leaders behind the 2014 pro-democracy Occupy protests, said: “If self-determination is independence, then everything is the same as Hong Kong independence.”
A protest against Beijing’s interpretation of the Basic Law was held on Sunday. 

It ended with clashes outside the China Liaison Office, Beijing’s organ in Hong Kong.