Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested that imprisoned Hong Kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai is unlikely to be released, US President Donald Trump said Friday.

Asked about the fate of political prisoners in China following a high-stakes summit in Beijing, Trump said that Xi would “strongly” consider the release of a pastor of an underground church, but that freeing Lai was a “tough one for him to do.”

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, Trump said of Lai’s fate: “I did bring him up, it’s a tougher one for him, it’s a tougher one.”

Trump added: “He told me, Jimmy Lai is a tough one for him to do.”

Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was found guilty in December on charges of foreign collusion and seditious publication and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The sentence was the harshest penalty doled out so far under a national security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing after widespread pro-democracy protests in 2019 and received international condemnation.

Trump added Friday that Xi promised “He’s going to strongly consider the pastor,” referring to Jin Mingri, the founder of a prominent Chinese underground church detained in October in a sweeping national crackdown.

Jin founded the unregistered Zion Church in 2007 in Beijing. It grew to 1,500 members before shuttering in 2018 under pressure from Chinese authorities.

But the church maintained an online presence that flourished during the Covid pandemic, amassing a following across 40 Chinese cities.

Jin was arrested on October 10 on “suspicion of the illegal use of information networks.”

Eric Lai, senior fellow at Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said that while it was clear that Jimmy Lai’s case was not a priority at the summit, it was still significant that Trump raised it.

“Obviously, the CCP does not compromise on its perception of regime security and they have never changed their attitudes and positioning towards Jimmy Lai and his imprisonment,” he said referring to China’s Communist Party.

“That said, it is also evident that international attention and internal pressure in US society remains essential to the US government keeping an agenda on Jimmy Lai alongside other political prisoners in China,” he added.

By Danny Kemp

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned his US counterpart Donald Trump that missteps on Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict”, a stark opening salvo as they met in Beijing on Thursday at a superpower summit.

Trump had arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend”, as he predicted that their countries would have “a fantastic future together”.

But beyond the pomp as he welcomed Trump, Xi in less effusive tones said the two sides “should be partners and not rivals”, while highlighting the issue of self-ruled democratic Taiwan — which Beijing claims as its territory — straight off the bat.

“The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations,” Xi said, according to remarks published by Chinese state media shortly after talks began.

“If mishandled, the two nations could collide or even come into conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into a highly perilous situation,” he added at the opening talks that lasted around two hours and 15 minutes.

Trump’s trip to Beijing is the first by a US president in nearly a decade, with the grand reception belying a host of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions between the two countries.

Xi greeted Trump with a red-carpet welcome at the opulent Great Hall of the People, with military band fanfare, a gun salute and a host of schoolchildren jumping and chanting “welcome!”.

Seemingly enjoying the ceremony, Trump said “the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before”.

Xi instead referenced an ancient Greek political theory about the risks of war when a rising power rivals a ruling power.

“Can China and the United States transcend the so-called ‘Thucydides Trap’ and forge a new paradigm for major-power relations,” Xi asked, adding that “cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both”.

There has been plenty of the latter since Trump’s last visit in 2017, with the two countries having spent much of 2025 embroiled in a dizzying trade war and at odds on many major global issues.

‘Blunt language’

Taiwan is a longstanding sore point.

The United States recognises only Beijing but under domestic law is required to provide weapons to Taiwan so that it can defend itself.

China has sworn to take the self-ruled democracy and has not ruled out using force, ramping up military pressure in recent years.

Following Xi’s comments on Thursday, Taipei called China the “sole risk” to regional peace, and insisted that “the US side has repeatedly reaffirmed its clear and firm support”.

But Trump said Monday he would speak to Xi about US arms sales to Taiwan, a departure from historic US insistence that it will not consult Beijing on the matter.

Adam Ni, editor of newsletter China Neican, told AFP that while such “blunt language” was not uncommon in Chinese foreign policy, it was unusual coming from Xi himself.

“Xi wants to make it very clear… he thinks the Taiwan issue is the potential powder keg between the two superpowers,” Ni added.

China has been “signalling a desire for US compromise on Taiwan in the lead up to the summit,” the National University of Singapore’s Chong Ja Ian told AFP.

Xi’s demand could suggest “they see some opportunity to convince Trump”, he said.

Iran overshadows

A new addition to the list of contentious issues to be discussed, the Iran war, threatens to weaken Trump’s position, having already forced him to postpone his trip from March.

The US president said he expected a “long talk” with Xi about Iran, which sells most of its US-sanctioned oil to China, but insisted that “I don’t think we need any help” from Beijing.

However, his secretary of state Marco Rubio, historically a fierce opponent of Beijing, said the US side was hoping “to convince (China) to play a more active role”.

Trump is also hoping for business deals on agriculture, aircraft and other sectors.

Elite businessmen in his delegation, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Tesla’s Elon Musk, were on the stairs of the Great Hall of the People on Thursday for the welcome ceremony.

Musk told reporters afterwards the meeting had been “wonderful”, while Huang said the two presidents “were incredible”.

Xi later told the delegation that his country’s “doors to the outside world will open wider and wider” and that US companies would enjoy “even brighter prospects in China”.

On the eve of the summit, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met in South Korea to seek progress in ending a long-simmering trade war between the two.

Xi said the talks “reached results that were generally balanced and positive”, and urged both sides to “safeguard the current hard-won positive momentum”.

Trump and Xi are set to discuss extending a one-year tariff truce reached during their last meeting in South Korea in October.

China’s controls on rare earth exports and AI rivalry are among other topics expected to be taken up.

After their morning meeting, the two men took a break from negotiations, heading to the Temple of Heaven, a World Heritage site where China’s emperors once prayed for good harvests.

The two will return to the Great Hall of the People this evening for a state banquet.

An outspoken resident who survived Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades has said he will not give any more media interviews after his release following an arrest over alleged government loan fraud.

“Going forward, I won’t be responding to anything, OK?” Wang Fuk Court resident Jason Kong told reporters outside Tsuen Wan Police Station shortly after midnight on Saturday. “Thank you all for your care and support over the past few months.”

Kong and his wife were reportedly arrested on Thursday on suspicion of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud.

The couple, both directors of an interior design company, allegedly used fraudulent means to obtain several hundred thousand dollars in loans under the government’s Special 100% Loan Guarantee scheme, which was launched during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sources familiar with the matter told HKFP on Friday that they were being detained at a police station.

The arrests came around two weeks after Kong was involved in organising and delivering a petition to Hop On Management, the government-appointed administrator for the Tai Po housing estate, asking the firm to hold a meeting with homeowners.

Kong, who was a member of the Wang Fuk Court owners’ board when the fire broke out in November, had also spoken with the media on other issues, such as long-term resettlement.

However, upon his release on Saturday, he refused to answer reporters’ questions about whether he was under investigation for other matters, as well as whether he would still handle matters relating to a petition for an owners’ meeting.

Asked whether he was still able to speak for residents, Kong said that he had “no comment.”

“I hope that everyone can stay safe and healthy, and once again I thank everyone for their support,” he said.

“I hope that residents can settle down as soon as possible,” Kong added as he got into a taxi.

Hop On, which received a petition with 247 handwritten signatures on April 29, has yet to hold an in-person meeting with homeowners. The management firm said last week that it would apply to the Lands Tribunal to extend the statutory deadline for the meeting.

Kong and other fire survivors previously launched a similar petition online in March, signed by more than 400 homeowners and representatives of those killed in the fire.

Hop On rejected the demand, while the Home Affairs Department said the signatures might have been forged.

Kong also testified before an independent committee investigating the blaze last month, saying that government agencies had “failed in their duties” despite receiving complaints about the renovation project at the estate.

A Hong Kong man who threw anti-government leaflets from his public housing flat has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to committing seditious acts.

Raymond Wong appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to receive a 10-month jail sentence handed down by Chief Magistrate Victor So for two counts of “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention,” local media reported.

Wong, a 55-year-old construction worker, admitted to throwing the leaflets from his unit in On Tat Estate, Kwun Tong, on two occasions in October 2024 and December 2025.

He was arrested in April, and the following month, he pleaded guilty to the charges –  an offence under Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law, also known as Article 23.

In mitigation, he apologised to his girlfriend and his daughter, as their public housing unit would be reclaimed by the government due to his offence.

Citing a psychological report, Wong’s lawyers said that the defendant did not know how to control the resentment that had built up from losing his full-time job after the 2019 protests and the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘Premeditated and planned’

Noting that the leaflets were thrown after National Day two years ago and before last year’s Legislative Council (LegCo) elections, Magistrate So said that Wong’s actions were “premeditated and planned to some degree.”

On October 2, 2024, Kwun Tong district councillor Hsu Yau-wai reported 41 sheets of paper to the police after finding them on the podium of Lai Tat House at the estate. The papers had slogans on them saying “kill police” and derogatory remarks about mainland Chinese people.

On December 5 last year, two days ahead of the “patriots only” LegCo polls, a property manager found papers scattered near that same area, with written slogans such as “Liberate Hong Kong, do not vote.”

Wong’s lawyers said on Tuesday that his methods were “primitive” and had limited impact compared with online posts.

So said he accepted the defence’s argument but pointed out that Wong explicitly incited people to kill police officers, mainland Chinese, and government officials.

Wong incited enmity towards the police and referred to mainland residents with “derogatory” and “dehumanising” language, and his use of the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong,” considered secessionist under Beijing’s national security law in Hong Kong, also challenged national sovereignty, the magistrate added.

Calls to boycott the LegCo polls also amounted to an effort to undermine public confidence in the city’s electoral system, So said.

The turnout for last year’s polls was the second-lowest on record, at 31.9 per cent. Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system in 2021 to ensure that only those deemed patriotic enough can run.

The move reduced democratic representation in the legislature, tightened control of elections and introduced requirements for candidates to obtain nominations from a small circle of political elites.

What role the Legislative Council (LegCo) should play in our executive-led system continues to spark controversy.  Lawmakers themselves are discussing the issue, which is a healthy sign. 

Central authorities have also spoken indirectly on LegCo’s role.

On January 26, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office head Xia Baolong pointed out that executive-led government in Hong Kong means that each branch – executive, legislative, and judicial – performs its “own role and cooperates and coordinates with each other.”

According to Article 64 of the Basic Law, LegCo’s role includes holding the government to account. This means asking questions, asking for justification of government action, investigating government actions and inactions, and, when necessary, sanctioning government officials for policy failures.

According to the Powers and Privileges Ordinance (Cap 382), enacted in 1985, with the select and investigation committee system, as well as the system of policy panels, LegCo has the capacity to fulfil its “own role.”

It is precisely how to understand LegCo’s “own role” that has sparked controversy.

First, may LegCo use the tools it has to hold the government to account? The central authorities have condemned the way the opposition in LegCo used these tools after 2010. They call it abuse, citing filibustering and other tactics that delayed legislation.

The record is clear: the fourth- and fifth-term Legislative Councils passed far fewer bills than either before or after. The sixth-term LegCo was heading in the same direction until the government disqualified some opposition lawmakers, and most of the rest resigned.  

Moreover, both the central and the city’s authorities accuse the opposition of abusing LegCo’s powers to investigate, and to summon and inquire – precisely those powers legislators still have and need to hold the government to account.

In this view, the abuse dates from after 2010 when the opposition and representatives of the central government negotiated a deal over political reform in Hong Kong. It has been downhill ever since, according to Beijing. 

From 1985 to 2010, LegCo convened six select or investigation committees, which focused on issues of public concern: the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) operations and staff loyalty, the chaotic Chek Lap Kok airport opening, short piling in public housing, SARS, misselling Lehman-Brothers minibonds, and conflicts of interest in the post-retirement employment of civil servants.

The result: the government changed course and made improvements in public policy.

For example, authorities introduced the Principal Officials Accountability System (POAS) in 2002, which is still with us today. LegCo’s work and the results of an expert committee investigation on the SARS outbreak in 2003-04 better prepared us for the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. These positive results are undeniable. 

Even in the post-2010 period, pressure from LegCo to investigate sometimes had positive results. In 2015, for example, responding to public concern expressed in the legislature, the government established a commission of inquiry into lead in drinking water in some public housing estates. Again, the government changed course. 

Second, authorities tell us that executive-led government means that LegCo and the executive should “cooperate” and “coordinate.” Does this mean that legislators may not criticise government policy? Reporting indicates that many LegCo members perceive this to be the case. 

Remember Chief Executive John Lee’s harsh rebuke of LegCo member Paul Tse’s criticism of government policy in the first “patriots-only” seventh-term LegCo? The chief executive deemed such criticism “dangerous,” similar to the “soft resistance” of the much-criticised opposition and must be “stamped out.”

The few government critics in the seventh-term LegCo all left the body in 2025. 

More recently, consider the Hospital Authority’s (HA) rebuke after LegCo members Gary Chan, Rebecca Chan, and David Lam expressed concerns that residents might not have collected their HA-provided medication because of increased charges. (A sidenote: Rebecca Chan served as a political assistant in the Food and Health Bureau from 2012 to 2017.)

The legislators drew attention to the very figure disclosed by the Health Bureau: that 26,000 public hospital prescriptions were uncollected after the new fee regime was introduced in January. However, rather than listening and investigating, the HA said the remarks were “untruthful.”

The government apparently prefers to send legislators “warm reminders” on many issues of public concern, in effect telling them to shut up. Precisely because no lawmaker spoke up when LegCo deliberated the bus seatbelt issue in September 2025, the policy resulted in a fiasco. 

The public needs a legislature that is engaged, open, and responsibly critical of government action – this is the minimum required to perform its “own role.”

Of course, LegCo should cooperate and coordinate with the government, but to do so should not compromise the legislature’s “own role.”  

Hong Kong needs a middle way for LegCo – somewhere between the dysfunction seen from the 2014 Umbrella Movement through the 2019 protests and a rubber stamp.

We have experienced a middle way, for example, from 1985 to at least 2010.

At the time, as noted above, LegCo investigations played an important role in improving public policy. Hong Kong people value this kind of LegCo role. It benefits the government and the community, building trust and legitimacy. 

Authorities should trust their own gatekeeping in selecting patriotic LegCo members. Many LegCo members seem to understand that they should play a more active role.

The government should realise that it cannot do everything alone. Effective governance is co-produced.

Authorities need to recognise the legitimacy of a middle way, a more authentic role for LegCo. We will all benefit.

A Hong Kong court has convicted a former law student of rioting during the 2019 protests and unrest after the government successfully appealed against her acquittal, leading to a retrial.

Alice Tong, 26, was found guilty of rioting on Tuesday, nearly seven years after she was arrested in Wan Chai on August 31, 2019, according to local media. District Judge Edmond Lee remanded Tong in custody pending sentencing on July 15.

Lee initially acquitted Tong of rioting and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place in August 2021, saying at that time prosecutors had failed to prove she committed violence or abetted the riot.

Authorities appealed against her acquittal, and the Court of Appeal overturned Lee’s decision in June 2024.

The three appellate judges said at that time that the circumstantial evidence of Tong’s participation in the riot was “overwhelming,” according to media outlet The Witness.

See also: ‘It has been so long’: Hongkongers acquitted in 2019 protest cases face lengthy legal battle after gov’t appeals

The Court of Appeal judges ordered the case to be reconsidered by the trial judge. In July last year, they rejected Tong’s application to take her case to the Court of Final Appeal.

Judge Lee said on Tuesday that the circumstantial evidence was “overwhelming” in showing that Tong was part of the riot and had encouraged others through her presence.

At the time of her arrest, Tong was dressed in black, carrying a gas mask and a black scarf, and holding an umbrella and a walking stick, Lee said.

Officers also seized a helmet, goggles, gloves, and a laser pen from her backpack, Lee said.

The defendant’s clothing and the equipment she carried were “extremely unusual and suspicious,” Lee said, pointing out that her outfit on that day was clearly similar to that of other protesters.

Lee also said that, in the minutes before the defendant was stopped by police, many black-clad protesters were retreating along the same route on Wan Chai Road towards the east.

The judge dismissed the defence’s argument that Tong was merely caught in the riot and was not leaving the scene alongside other protesters.

Tong was seen weeping after the judge delivered his verdict, while her supporters yelled, “We all love you,” as she was led away by guards, The Witness reported.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.” 

For the fourth year in a row, Hong Kong’s Victoria Park – historically the site of annual candlelight vigils to remember the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown – will host a patriotic food carnival on June 4.

The fourth edition of “Hometown Market” will be held from June 3 to 7 at Victoria Park, organisers said during a press conference on Tuesday. The event will feature more than 370 booths selling local Chinese delicacies and showcasing performances by robots, organisers said.

Kung Chun-lung, chairperson of the Hong Kong Guangdong Federation, said the carnival will introduce products of “rural rejuvenation,” such as sweet potato, corn, and peanut. The five-day event will also see performances by local celebrities, such as Maria Cordero, as well as a traditional Chinese war dance and a “robotic band,” local media reported.

A section of the event will be dedicated to showcasing the technological innovations of Guangdong province, such as artificial intelligence-powered Chinese medicine consultations, according to organisers’ promotional videos on social media.

Decades of vigils

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Beijing-imposed national security law, tens of thousands of Hongkongers gathered for an annual candlelight vigil on June 4 to mourn the bloody crackdown on student-led protests around Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

The number of deaths is not known, but it is believed hundreds, if not thousands, perished during the People’s Liberation Army’s dispersal of protesters, which ended on June 4, 1989.

Police banned the Tiananmen vigil gathering at Victoria Park for the first time in 2020, citing Covid-19 restrictions, and imposed the same ban in 2021, nearly a year after the national security law came into effect.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organised the vigils, disbanded in September 2021 after several of its members were arrested.

No official commemoration has been held since then.

Over more recent years, the Hometown Market has taken place with police patrolling the vicinity, stopping and searching passersby.

Since the onset of the security law, the Hong Kong government has referred to the Tiananmen anniversary as a “sensitive date,” while statues and artworks paying tribute to the 1989 crackdown have been removed from the city’s university campuses.

The Pillar of Shame monument disappeared from the University of Hong Kong in a covert overnight operation on December 23, 2021. The next day, the Goddess of Democracy statue was taken away from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, while the Tiananmen Massacre wall relief was removed from Lingnan University.

A three-judge panel will deliver a verdict in “mid or late July” following the national security trial of the Tiananmen vigil organisers.

Its former leader Chow Hang-tung – along with activists Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho – is charged with inciting subversion. She and Lee pleaded not guilty, while Ho pleaded guilty. They face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors accuse the Alliance of inciting others to topple the ruling Chinese Communist Party through its calls to “end one-party rule” in China, a key tenet of the group since its founding in 1989 after the Tiananmen crackdown in Beijing.

Joshua Wong’s national security case has been transferred to a higher court, where the pro-democracy activist faces up to life imprisonment, following the conclusion of committal proceedings.

Wong appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday morning to face a charge of conspiring to commit foreign collusion, a crime under the Beijing-imposed national security law.

He was arrested in June last year while in jail. Wong is currently serving a four-year-and-eight-month jail sentence for his involvement in another national security case relating to election primaries in 2020, in which he pleaded guilty.

In the present case, the 29-year-old stands accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and “other persons unknown” between July 1 and November 23, 2020, to request foreign countries, organisations, or individuals based overseas to impose sanctions, blockades or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China.

Law, who now lives in the UK, and Wong, along with other former student activists, co-founded pro-democracy political party Demosisto, which was disbanded hours after China’s legislature passed the national security law on June 30, 2020.

Magistrate Victor So said in August last year that Wong’s case would be transferred from the magistrate’s court to the High Court, where the maximum penalty is life imprisonment. At the magistrate’s court, the maximum penalty is two years, or three years when a defendant faces more than one offence.

Since then, Wong has appeared at a number of hearings related to the committal of the case to the High Court.

Under court reporting laws, media reports relating to procedures involving the transfer of cases from the magistrate’s court to the High Court are severely restricted.

Reports cannot publicise the contents of the procedures, and can only describe information such as the names of defendants, judges and lawyers, and information on the charges.

Wong has been remanded since November 2020, when he was detained in an unauthorised assembly case linked to the anti-extradition protests and unrest in 2019.

Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. 

The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.

Activists have shown up in Causeway Bay, defying a heavy police deployment at and around the former site of Hong Kong’s commemorative Tiananmen crackdown vigils.

Large numbers of uniformed and plainclothes officers were seen in Victoria Park – where the Tiananmen vigils were held for decades – and around Causeway Bay on Thursday, the 37th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown.

A “Sabertooth” police armoured vehicle was spotted in the afternoon near Times Square, as officers set up a roadblock at the intersection of East Point Road and Great George Road.

Exits from Causeway Bay MTR Station were also guarded by officers.

Explainer: What to know about Hong Kong’s past Tiananmen commemorations and nat. security trial of vigil leaders

The Tiananmen crackdown occurred on June 4, 1989, ending months of student-led demonstrations in China. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters in Beijing.

At around 5pm, activist Lui Yuk-lin walked from Great George Street in Causeway Bay towards Victoria Park. She pressed her hands, wrapped in a black cloth, in a prayer gesture, while chanting the Great Compassion Mantra.

Bowing every few steps, Lui walked through the park towards Tin Hau and returned to Causeway Bay. The activist said she bowed 37 times in the 40-minute walk.

Some police officers followed the activist and occasionally held a cordon around her as she walked and chanted.

Lui told reporters that she would be leaving Causeway Bay at 8pm to comply with a police warning. “I’m leaving, I’m leaving,” she said, before police officers swarmed her and escorted her to the MTR station.

Another woman was seen gesturing “six” and “four” with her hands at around 6pm on Great George Street in Causeway Bay, The Collective reported. Police officers at the scene warned her that her behaviour could be “seditious”. They pressed her hands down and took her away in a police vehicle.

At around 6.30pm, Chan Po-ying, chairperson of the now-defunct League of Social Democrats, a pro-democracy party, appeared in Causeway Bay with a yellow paper flower.

Police at the scene warned Chan that her behaviour might constitute “disorder in public places” and told her to put the flower in her bag.

Officers then took her away in a police vehicle.

A man was surrounded by police officers on Paterson Street after being spotted holding a candle at around 7pm.

While being searched, he asked whether he was being arrested and said that he did not have to comply with their orders if he was not under arrest. “I know my rights,” he said.

After he asked again whether he was under arrest, an officer said, “Disorderly conduct,” and they escorted him into a police van.

A young man in a black T-shirt was intercepted by police after he put on a blindfold and used a red marker pen to write on his arm outside the Sogo department store at around 7.15pm.

Despite being surrounded by police, he continued the act until he was ordered to stop. Moments later, he was taken into a police vehicle.

Before he got into the van, he pulled out a small red book that appeared to be China’s constitution.

The same man was spotted in Causeway Bay on the past two Tiananmen crackdown anniversaries and was taken away by police on both occasions.

In 2025, he appeared at Victoria Park, wearing a T-shirt saying, “Core Values of Socialism.” In 2024, he showed up at the patriotic food carnival wearing a T-shirt bearing the iconic picture of revolutionary leader Che Guevara. He was escorted away by the carnival’s security guards and later taken into a police vehicle.

A man in a white T-shirt was taken into a police vehicle at around 8pm after sitting cross-legged on the ground outside the Sogo department store.

A 70-year-old man, who gave only his surname, Tin, told HKFP that he came to Victoria Park this year to commemorate the crackdown alone, calling it a “pity” that the annual vigils were no more.

The vigils “showed Hong Kong’s freedoms, that we could speak our opinions freely,” Tin said as he walked around the perimeter of Victoria Park’s football pitches. The site, where the vigils were once held before Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020, is currently hosting a five-day patriotic food carnival.

“Now this freedom has been restricted, and no one dares to say anything critical across society,” he added.

Tin noted that police presence at the park on Thursday was less heavy-handed than in previous years, when police told him to turn off his phone torch.

But he also said fewer and fewer people had shown up in Victoria Park on June 4, expressing concern that the public memory of the crackdown may wane in the future.

E-commerce shop As One, operated by former district councillor Derek Chu, continued to distribute candles this year on June 4. Meanwhile, Hunter Bookstore, run by ex-district councillor Leticia Wong, sold candles at HK$6.4 each.

Pastor Grace Bok of the One Body of Christ Church said she and a group of friends decided to come to Victoria Park for a “walk” at around 10pm.

Bok said that while many feared the heavy police presence in the area, coming to walk around the former vigil venue should be permitted as a form of commemoration.

“It is your own activity, your own way to remember,” she told HKFP in Cantonese. “People should be allowed to remember.”

As night fell, the mood at Victoria Park appeared festive, with music pouring out of the patriotic Hometown Market Carnival.

For the fourth consecutive year, the food carnival is being held in Victoria Park in the week of the crackdown anniversary.

Police officers patrolled the perimeter of the park in small groups, while two robodogs dressed in lion dance costumes and a humanoid robot walked around the market.

While the police presence remained heavy inside and around Victoria Park this year, officers appeared more tolerant of commemorative acts.

They patrolled in smaller groups than in previous years and did not search as many people as before.

At around 9pm, several reporters interviewed a man who was drawing with a few cans of Kronenbourg 1664 beer beside him. The police’s media liaison officers asked journalists not to block the way, but did not interrupt the interview or the man drawing.

Vigil leaders under trial

Leaders of the group that organised the vigils for decades are now standing trial for “inciting subversion” under the national security law. They face up to 10 years behind bars if convicted.

Rights group Amnesty International on Thursday urged the Hong Kong government to release the vigil activists, Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, ahead of their verdict, which is expected in July.

The group said a global petition with over 52,000 signatures had been handed over to the Hong Kong government, urging the immediate release of the pair.

“This is the seventh year Hong Kong’s Victoria Park candlelight vigil has been extinguished by the authorities. But it cannot be extinguished worldwide. From Hong Kong to diaspora communities worldwide, people continue to keep the memory of 4 June alive with creativity and resilience,” said Fernando Cheung, a former Hong Kong lawmaker and now a spokesperson of Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas.

In Beijing, authorities reportedly prevented the families of victims who died in 1989 from visiting their graves at Wan’an Cemetery, a move Amnesty International called “a heartless act.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that “no amount of censorship can erase the past,” according to AFP.

Beijing said on Thursday that Rubio’s remarks “distort historical facts, smear China’s political system and development path, and interfere in China’s internal affairs.”

On Wednesday, Hong Kong performance artist Sanmu Chan was stopped and searched by plainclothes police after showing up in Causeway Bay holding a 6.4-metre-long red string ahead of the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary.

Another artist, Chan Mei-tung, was also searched and escorted to leave Causeway Bay by police after she appeared with balloons – one shaped like a golden question mark – at the shopping district on Wednesday night.

China said Friday it was holding an American citizen accused of espionage, identifying the man as a political analyst at a policy think tank focusing on neighbouring Myanmar.

Min Zin — a founder of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar (ISP-M) — “has been subjected to criminal compulsory measures”, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a news briefing.

Authorities are holding him “on suspicion of engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security”, he said, without providing further details.

The ISP-M researches the political, resource and conflict dynamics of Myanmar, which was plunged into civil war by a 2021 coup.

Some of their publications detail China’s influence in the borderlands of Myanmar, where Beijing is accused of supporting armed factions which suit its national interests.

It is not clear whether Min Zin was conducting research at the time he was held by Chinese authorities.

A person with professional ties to ISP-M, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, told AFP Min Zin was arrested on June 3 at Kunming airport in Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar.

“He went there to attend a meeting,” said another person with a close relationship to the detained academic, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Chinese authorities said the US consulate in Guangzhou had been notified of the case.

“His family and colleagues are following up with the consulate office there,” the second source said. “I know his family is worried.”

Neither the US State Department nor the ISP-M have responded to a request for comment.

The ISP-M is based in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, a hub for political exiles from Myanmar since the coup ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Analysts, including those at the ISP-M, say China has intermittently backed both the military and rebels in the civil war according to its varying economic and security interests.

A viral stress-relief “Natasha” doll trending on Chinese social media has been deemed “absolutely diabolical” by members of Hong Kong’s Black community.

Resembling a small child, the most popular version is dark-skinned and features exaggerated racial characteristics. Buyers have filmed themselves beating, stretching, boiling and stomping on the toy.

“No design is created, marketed, and sold in isolation of thought and purpose. The design, manufacturing, and selling of a Black baby doll to abuse at one’s whims is at the root of the existence of movements like Black Lives Matter,” Monique Franz, a writer and founder of Kinsman Avenue Publishing – a non-profit which advocates for underrepresented voices – told HKFP.

“By inviting people to take out their stresses on a Black body, we invite populations to abuse our Black bodies at their whims, robbing us of our actual humanity. While this is a game to others, Black people are experiencing widespread global abuse, which is the result of portrayals of us in such degrading ways,” added Franz, who is African-American.

Made from slow-rising memory foam or soft thermoplastic rubber, the dolls remain freely available on e-commerce sites such as Taobao, and have been trending on social media platforms like RedNote and Douyin.

Jayne Jeje, an African-American entrepreneur, advocate, and long-term Hong Kong resident, told HKFP that such trends do not come out of nowhere. “There seems to be an endless fascination with Black hair, Black skin, Black lips, Black bodies, and Black culture, yet people are shocked when we speak up,” she said.

“Some of the viral videos are absolutely diabolical. I’d find them offensive no matter who was being depicted, but this is deeply personal because I am proud of my beautiful dark skin. I refuse to accept the idea that it is something to be squeezed, slapped, mocked, or turned into entertainment for the masses,” she added.

Spotted in Hong Kong

Londiwe Ngubeni – a South African actress and vocalist who lives on Lantau – told HKFP that she spotted a child with a Natasha doll at a Mui Wo supermarket. “At first, I thought she simply liked the toy. Then she began stretching, squeezing, poking the eyes and hitting the doll. When I asked why, she said it was a ‘stress reliever.’ How is relieving stress by hurting a brown baby doll acceptable?”

Ngubeni said she was furious and disappointed. The child “said her friend had given it to her. What message are we teaching children when dehumanising a Black child becomes a plaything?”

She urged manufacturers and retailers to be held to account over “products that reinforce racist attitudes.”

Innocent Mutanga of NGO Africa Center Hong Kong said the trend “risks normalising the dehumanisation of Black bodies… This is particularly disturbing as this dehumanization is directed towards Black children, demonstrating a lack of empathy for Black people, no matter the age.”

He said the China Consumers Association and State Administration for Market Regulation had stepped in to remove violent videos, with schools in mainland China banning the doll.

Although Mutanga said guidance was issued to e-commerce sites in mainland China, the product was still available on Taobao when HKFP checked on Thursday.

Mutanga urged teachers, parents and community leaders across the Greater Bay Region to link up with the Africa Centre to step up education, as people may lack “exposure to African cultures and histories.”

Chinese social media has played host to similarly abusive trends involving Black children before.

In 2022, a BBC investigation found that children in sub-Saharan Africa were being paid to perform in Chinese online videos that often involved degrading or abusive content.

“This prosecution is, in fact, a trial of the law itself,” Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Chow Hang-tung told a court last month.

Chow, 41, made the remark during a defiant closing argument in her trial.

The barrister-turned-activist sought to challenge the legitimacy of the national security allegations against herself, former colleague Lee Cheuk-yan, and the organisation they led, which held Hong Kong’s candlelight vigils commemorating China’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

From 1990 to 2019, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China organised the commemorative event every year on June 4 at Victoria Park, demanding accountability for the bloody crackdown and the democratisation of China, both taboos in the country.

Beijing imposed a national security law in Hong Kong in 2020, following the 2019 protests and unrest. In 2021, police arrested the Alliance’s leadership, including Chow, Lee, and Albert Ho. The Alliance voted to disband that year, ending its decades-long vigils and advocacy.

Chow, Lee, and the Alliance are standing trial for “inciting subversion” under the national security law, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars. Ho pleaded guilty when the trial opened in January.

HKFP looked at the events surrounding the establishment of the Alliance, the Tiananmen vigils it organised, and the ongoing trial of its leaders.

Hong Kong prosecutors have argued that the case against the Alliance is not political and does not concern its activism, the vigils, or the 1989 crackdown. They allege that, however, the group had been calling for the overthrow of China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) through its “end one-party rule” slogan – a key tenet of the Alliance since its founding.

For Chow, who represents herself in the trial, the prosecution has upended Hong Kong’s value of being a free-wheeling city that tolerates the kind of political dissent not permitted in mainland China.

The trial has in effect “cornered” the court, forcing it to choose its side between the rule of law and an authoritarian regime, she argued.

Alliance and 1989 Tiananmen crackdown

Massive pro-democracy demonstrations broke out in China in the spring of 1989, triggered by the death of Hu Yaobang, a former CCP leader seen as a reformist. Students and protesters gathered in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square for weeks, demanding political reforms and democracy, as the rest of the country rallied to support those in the capital city.

In May that year, the Alliance was founded in Hong Kong, and huge demonstrations were staged in support of protesters in mainland China.

Around 1.5 million people joined a mass rally on May 28, a day after celebrities like Anita Mui, Teresa Teng, Eric Tsang, and Jackie Chan took part in the Alliance’s benefit concert in support of the students’ movement.

Lee personally went to Beijing to deliver donations raised during the concert. However, he was detained and made to sign a letter of remorse, around the time the tanks rolled in to crush the burgeoning movement. 

The protests in Beijing ended in a bloody crackdown as Chinese troops dispersed protesters on June 3 and 4. Estimates of death tolls during the crackdown range from hundreds to thousands.

In the years that followed, the Alliance organised candlelight vigils at Victoria Park every June 4 to commemorate the dead and to keep the spirit of the 1989 pro-democracy movement alive.

The Alliance’s five tenets – release pro-democracy activists, vindicate the 1989 democracy movement, hold those responsible for the crackdown accountable, end one-party rule, and build a democratic China – were an integral part of the candlelight vigils.

Tens of thousands of people attended the commemorations every year. They lit candles, sang songs, observed a moment of silence, and chanted the Alliance’s five slogans, led by the group’s leaders.

In 2020, authorities banned the vigil for the first time, citing Covid-19 restrictions. They prohibited the gathering again the following year, also citing the pandemic. The Alliance was disbanded in September 2021, following the arrests of its leaders.

No official vigils have been held since 2019, but there is a heavy police presence at Victoria Park and nearby streets on June 4.

For four consecutive years, Victoria Park has been occupied by a pro-China food festival in early June, including the anniversary day of the bloody crackdown.

‘Weird’ prosecution

In her closing argument last month, Chow said the prosecution was “weird,” as the defendants had not disputed the alleged acts and instead, they embraced what they did.

“Ending one-party rule means putting an end to the status quo, in which those in power are not bound by the law,” she told the court in Cantonese. “What is really in dispute is what the law suppresses and what it protects.”

According to the prosecution, the Alliance’s calls to “end one-party rule” had exceeded the legitimate boundary of freedom of expression as the defendants intended to stoke hatred against Beijing. “Freedom is not absolute,” lead prosecutor Ned Lai told the court in Cantonese.

Chow said the prosecution’s argument had undermined the values long championed in Hong Kong, such as freedom of expression and the rule of law.

“Speaking out the truth has become stoking hatred. Seeking justice has become taking advantage of suffering,” she said. “Asking for accountability has become breaching the constitution. Demanding democracy has become inciting subversion.”

She maintained that the court must protect human rights when reaching a verdict in the case.

“What the court has been asked to ban, to punish in this case are, in fact, what society and the law should encourage… They are the core values of Hong Kong, the norms and ideals accumulated through generations,” she said.

“I hope the court will make a correct decision to safeguard the dignity and bottom line of the law, at a time when values are being reshaped,” she added.

Prosecutors have argued that there are no “lawful means” to end CCP rule after a 2018 constitutional amendment stipulated that the party’s leadership is the “defining feature” of China’s socialist system.

During his closing submission last month, Lee’s lawyer, Erik Shum, argued that prosecutors had presented a “tautological theory.”

“We ask: How exactly did the Alliance incite others to overthrow the CCP? And my submission is that the prosecution has always reverted to the claim that ending CCP rule is illegal,” Shum said in Cantonese.

Shum urged the court to draw a boundary for what is considered an acceptable political expression and what is not.

“The court must not pay lip service to human rights protections,” he said.

The three-judge panel – Alex Lee, Johnny Chang, and Anna Lai – has adjourned the proceedings, saying they hope to deliver a verdict in “mid or late July.”

In a letter from prison this week, Chow, who has been behind bars since September 2021, said she would go on a 37-hour hunger strike in commemoration of the 37th anniversary of the 1989 crackdown.