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Hong Kong defends Tiananmen vigil leaders' conviction after Western criticism
Hong Kong’s High Court ruled that attempts to undermine Communist Party leadership could amount to subversion, and said the verdict was well reasoned and sound.
Hong Kong authorities have pushed back against what they called baseless slander and smearing from Western countries after the conviction of leaders associated with an annual Tiananmen Square vigil and the now-disbanded group behind it, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. South China Morning Post Economy reports the city issued a strongly worded statement on Saturday following the closely watched verdict a day earlier.
In the case, three High Court judges found that efforts to overthrow or undermine the Communist Party of China’s leadership could constitute a subversion offence, citing that China’s constitution does not permit Western-style democracy. The court also found that the Hong Kong Alliance, former chairman Lee Cheuk-yan, and former vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung incited public hatred toward the party by likening Beijing’s crackdown over 1989 protests to local suppression during the 2019 anti-government demonstrations.
A fourth defendant, Albert Ho Chun-yan, had earlier pleaded guilty, according to the report. A government spokesman said Hong Kong strongly condemned criticisms coming from Western countries, anti-China media, organizations, and politicians, and defended the ruling by pointing to what the judges said about the defendants’ stance toward the Communist Party and the central government.