By Katharine Murphy
Hong Kong democracy activists Anson Chan and Martin Lee. Lee said he would like the Australian government ‘to voice its concerns publicly as well as in private’.
The prominent Hong Kong democracy activists Martin Lee and Anson Chan have urged the Turnbull government to stand up to China publicly over the deteriorating state of civic freedoms, warning there has been a progressive diminution of the “one country, two systems” policy.
Lee, the founding chairman of Hong Kong’s democratic party, and Chan, a former chief secretary in both the British colonial government of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong special administrative region government under the Chinese sovereignty, made the appeal at the National Press Club on Thursday after a meeting with Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop.
Lee said he would like governments, including the Australian government, “to voice its concerns publicly as well as in private”.
Lee, the founding chairman of Hong Kong’s democratic party, and Chan, a former chief secretary in both the British colonial government of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong special administrative region government under the Chinese sovereignty, made the appeal at the National Press Club on Thursday after a meeting with Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop.
Lee said he would like governments, including the Australian government, “to voice its concerns publicly as well as in private”.
Chan said the success of the “one country, two systems” policy was demonstrably in Australia’s interests, given Australia’s deep linkages with Hong Kong, and given it was in the interests of all foreign powers that China abide by its international obligations.
She urged Australia to “take a consistent stand on reaffirming your values”.
The public intervention by the two veteran campaigners followed a display by the new generation of democracy campaigners in Hong Kong at a swearing-in ceremony at the legislature on Wednesday.
New parliamentarians from the pro-democracy movement used the swearing-in ceremony as a vehicle to launch fresh protests, with some refusing to read the required oath, which is a precursor to them being sworn in to the legislature.
Lee told the National Press Club he had urged the current crop to take the oath to ensure they took their places in the Hong Kong parliament but he said young participants in the pro-democracy movement were intent on creating a point of tactical difference with the previous generation.
He said if the Chinese government delivered on their undertakings on “one country, two systems” then young people would not escalate their activity to the extent of calling for independence from the mainland.
Lee said he believed the calls for independence were not really serious and most people in Hong Kong did not want to sever ties with the mainland, they wanted democracy.
Chan warned civic conditions were deteriorating in Hong Kong, with a serious erosion of press freedom, attacks against academics and the disappearance of booksellers critical of Chinese leaders.
She said the case of the booksellers had sent a message that “we are no longer safe, even on Hong Kong soil”.
She also pointed to the presence of “paid agitators” in Hong Kong who were pushing a pro-Beijing line and she expressed concern that Beijing’s propaganda machine was infiltrating Hong Kong culture.
The public intervention by the two veteran campaigners followed a display by the new generation of democracy campaigners in Hong Kong at a swearing-in ceremony at the legislature on Wednesday.
New parliamentarians from the pro-democracy movement used the swearing-in ceremony as a vehicle to launch fresh protests, with some refusing to read the required oath, which is a precursor to them being sworn in to the legislature.
Lee told the National Press Club he had urged the current crop to take the oath to ensure they took their places in the Hong Kong parliament but he said young participants in the pro-democracy movement were intent on creating a point of tactical difference with the previous generation.
He said if the Chinese government delivered on their undertakings on “one country, two systems” then young people would not escalate their activity to the extent of calling for independence from the mainland.
Lee said he believed the calls for independence were not really serious and most people in Hong Kong did not want to sever ties with the mainland, they wanted democracy.
Chan warned civic conditions were deteriorating in Hong Kong, with a serious erosion of press freedom, attacks against academics and the disappearance of booksellers critical of Chinese leaders.
She said the case of the booksellers had sent a message that “we are no longer safe, even on Hong Kong soil”.
She also pointed to the presence of “paid agitators” in Hong Kong who were pushing a pro-Beijing line and she expressed concern that Beijing’s propaganda machine was infiltrating Hong Kong culture.
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