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.

Taiwan’s main opposition leader said Monday she hopes to “gain deeper trust” from the United States, before departing for the country where she is expected to be grilled over her party’s stance on China and defence spending.

Kuomintang chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s trip comes two months after her “peace” visit to Beijing, where she met Chinese President Xi Jinping — the first such meeting in a decade — and weeks after US President Donald Trump’s summit with Xi in the Chinese capital.

It also comes after the KMT recently thwarted the Taiwanese government’s plan to spend nearly US$40 billion on critical weapons, including US arms and domestically produced drones.

Speaking to reporters before departing for the United States — Taiwan’s most important security backer — Cheng said she hopes her party can play a key role in regional peace efforts and “gain deeper trust from the US”.

“Only the KMT is truly serious and responsible in taking on the most important role of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Cheng told a press conference.

Cheng has rocked Taiwanese politics since her unexpected rise to the top of the party last year and drawn criticism for being too pro-China.

The KMT has long advocated closer relations with China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.

But Cheng’s cross-strait rhetoric has gone beyond the comfort zone of many people in her own party and caused unease among foreign partners, including Washington.

‘Sharper questions’

Over the next two weeks, Cheng will visit San Francisco, Boston, New York, Washington and Los Angeles. She plans to meet with US lawmakers, government officials, think tanks and supporters, according to her itinerary.

Analysts told AFP that US government officials and lawmakers are likely to interrogate Cheng on the KMT’s position on China and its decision to slash the government’s special defence budget.

While Taiwan has its own defence industry, it remains heavily reliant on the United States for weapons to deter a potential attack by China.

But there are concerns in Taipei over Washington’s commitment after Trump recently suggested arms sales to the island could be a bargaining chip with China.

Compared with her trip to China, Cheng can expect “far less pomp and far sharper questions” in the United States, said Ryan Hass, an expert on China and Taiwan at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

“Her challenge will be to persuade Washington that the KMT’s engagement with China can coexist with strong deterrence,” Hass wrote in a recent opinion piece in the Taipei Times newspaper.

Jason Hsu, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank and former KMT lawmaker, said Cheng will face “a lot of serious questioning from the administration and Congress for KMT’s leaning toward Beijing”.

The KMT and Taiwan People’s Party, which together control parliament, recently passed a US$25 billion defence spending bill limited to US weapons.

It excluded the procurement of drones made in Taiwan, which the government has said is critical for developing domestic production capacity to sustain its forces during a war.

Another Hong Kong performance artist has been stopped and searched by plainclothes police after showing up in Causeway Bay on the eve of the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary.

Artist Chan Mei-tung appeared with balloons – one shaped like a golden question mark – at around 7:18pm near SOGO department store. The store is near Victoria Park, once the site of vigils to remember the 1989 dead.

Police demanded to see her ID card and searched her. When asked by reporters what the balloon represented, Chan said it was for a “proposal.”

Police then escorted her to the nearby MTR station, where she destroyed the balloon after police told her they were banned on the metro system.

Earlier in the evening, fellow performance artist Sanmu Chan was stopped and searched by plainclothes police after showing up in Causeway Bay. Chan later told reporters that he was displaying a piece of red string that was 6.4 metres long. The figure appears to be a nod to the date of the crackdown.

“It’s abnormal that, whenever we are saying or doing something, we are being monitored,” he said in Cantonese.

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.

In response to HKFP’s enquiries about the two artists, police said officers patrolling East Point Road and Lockhart Road spotted a man and a woman loitering in the area. Officers approached them to understand the situation, and both individuals subsequently left of their own accord.

They did not respond as to whether paying tribute to the 1989 dead was legal, but said that any enforcement action is handled lawfully, based on actual circumstances. Operational deployments are made appropriately in response to potential threats to national security, public safety, and public order, they added.

Mass vigils replaced by patriotic fair

The mass candlelit vigils have not been officially held in Victoria Park since 2019. In 2020, Hong Kong authorities denied permission for the annual event, which typically attracted hundreds of thousands, citing Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

After Beijing imposed the national security law on June 30, 2020, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organised the annual event, was disbanded. The group’s key leaders are now facing a national security trial.

Since then, police have routinely searched and detained members of the public, activists, and artists on the crackdown’s anniversary and before.

This week, from Tuesday to Sunday, pro-Beijing groups are hosting the fourth edition of an annual patriotic food carnival in Victoria Park.

Last year, Chan Mei-tung was stopped and searched by police after chewing gum in the same area, at the same time.

Hong Kong media outlets should “make contributions” to national development by telling “good stories” of the city and China amid geopolitical uncertainties, Chief Executive John Lee has said.

Speaking at the annual Hong Kong News Awards ceremony on Friday, Lee said media practitioners in Hong Kong should aspire to contribute not just to the city’s progress, but also to China’s national development.

He made reference to the “Three Deeds to Immortality,” an ancient Chinese philosophy, and urged media workers to establish “virtue,” “contribution,” and “teaching.”

He said promoting national and city interests should be the core values of those in the media industry, especially amid uncertainties in global politics.

See also: Explainer: Hong Kong’s press freedom under the national security law

“Journalism has great influence and therefore comes with great responsibilities,” Lee said in Cantonese. “Such responsibilities include being impartial, not using news for personal gain, and reporting on accurate and high-quality information for residents.”

Lee said the government is working on Hong Kong’s first five-year blueprint in tandem with China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, a set of policy initiatives outlined by the Chinese Communist Party that has set the stage for the country’s social and economic development since the 1950s.

The 15th Five-Year Plan, announced in March, proposes expediting the development of a “Chinese narrative system,” and enhancing the country’s image on the global stage, Lee said.

“Excellent media workers… should assist Hong Kong in serving the country, connecting to the world, and contributing the power of the news to society and people’s wellbeing,” he said.

Lee has called on Hong Kong’s media sector to tell good stories of the city since he became Chief Executive in 2022. He has made similar remarks during past speeches at the Hong Kong News Awards ceremony, thought this was the first time he directly urged media workers to contribute to China’s development.

Hong Kong has plummeted in international press freedom indices since the onset of the 2020 and 2024 security laws. Watchdogs cite the arrest and jailing of journalists, raids on newsrooms and the closure of around 10 media outlets including Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News.

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.

Japan fired surface-to-ship missiles and sank an old warship in waters between the Philippines and Taiwan as part of major military exercises that include US forces, angering China.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has accelerated Japan’s shift towards a more muscular defence policy, further casting off — with US encouragement — Tokyo’s pacifist stance in place since the end of World War II.

The firing on Wednesday of two Type-88 missiles formed part of exercises in the Philippines between US, Australian, Filipino and Japanese troops as well as contingents from France, New Zealand and Canada.

Japanese and Philippine defence ministers observed the launch in the northern province of Ilocos Norte, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Taiwan, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

The two projectiles hit the target, a retired Philippines navy corvette, around 75 kilometres offshore in the South China Sea, causing it to sink, officials said.

The 19-day Balikatan exercises, meaning “shoulder-to-shoulder” and which wrap up Friday, have involved some 17,000 military personnel including Japanese combat troops for the first time.

Japan in recent years has moved to obtain “counterstrike” capabilities while hiking military spending and deepening security cooperation with regional allies including the Philippines.

Last month Takaichi’s government relaxed the country’s self-imposed rules to allow exports of lethal military hardware, seeking to grab a larger slice of the booming global market.

Last year Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries won a landmark order from the Australian navy — Takaichi was in Canberra this week — to supply 11 warships.

Missile drill angers China

Long-frosty China-Japan ties have worsened after Takaichi, seen as an arch-conservative and security hawk, suggested in November that Japan might intervene militarily in any Chinese attempt to take Taiwan.

China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious over the comments, advising its citizens to avoid Japan and imposing trade restrictions.

On Wednesday Beijing lashed out at the missile test, calling it “another example of the Japanese right-wing forces’ push for accelerated remilitarisation of Japan.”

Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular briefing that “not only has Japan, the aggressor, failed to deeply reflect on its historical crimes, it has even sent military forces overseas and fired offensive missiles under the pretext of security cooperation.”

Yee Kuang Heng, a professor in international security at the University of Tokyo, said that the missile test to sink a ship was “particularly significant as island defence is a shared concern of both Japan and the Philippines.”

Another important component was the participation of Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB) in counter-landing drills with US, Philippine and Canadian forces, Heng added.

“Balikatan 2026 also saw the maiden deployment of Japan’s ShinMaywa US-2 amphibious aircraft for air-sea rescue and medical procedures, especially important given the long sea lanes in the region,” Heng told AFP.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said Thursday he would be “happy” to talk to US leader Donald Trump — a conversation that would break more than four decades of diplomatic protocol and risk angering China.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he would speak to Lai, as the White House weighs arms sales to the democratic island.

It was the second time since a summit in Beijing last week that Trump has said he would call the Taiwanese leader.

Such communication would be the first time since Washington switched diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 that serving presidents of Taiwan and the United States would speak to each other.

Lai said Taiwan was “committed to maintaining the stable status quo in the Taiwan Strait” and that “China is the disruptor of peace and stability”, the Taiwanese foreign ministry said in a statement.

China ‘firmly opposes’ call

Lai would be “happy to discuss these matters with President Trump”, the statement said.

“I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody,” Trump said, adding that he had a great meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his state visit to Beijing last week.

“We’ll work on that, the Taiwan problem,” Trump said.

China’s foreign ministry said Thursday it “firmly opposes official exchanges” between the United States and Taiwan, as well as US arms sales to the island.

“China urges the United States to implement the important consensus reached during the meeting between the Chinese and US heads of state, honour its commitments and statements, handle the Taiwan question with the utmost prudence,” ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a press briefing.

He added that Washington should “stop sending wrong signals” to Taiwan.

After wrapping up his trip to Beijing, Trump suggested arms sales to Taiwan could be used as a bargaining chip with China, which claims the island is part of its territory and has threatened to seize it by force.

Since then, Lai’s government has been on the offensive, insisting that US policy on Taiwan has not changed and that Trump made no commitments to China on arms sales to the island.

Taiwan relies heavily on US support to deter any potential Chinese attack, and has been under intense pressure to increase its spending through investment in American firms.

In 2016, shortly after his first election victory, president-elect Trump accepted a phone call from then Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, angering Beijing and stunning diplomats, world leaders and China watchers.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), accusing it of failing to turn over records of its practice of threatening and surveilling photographers who film federal agents.

[Read More]

The landmark trial of Tiananmen vigil activists neared its conclusion in May, with both defendants and prosecutors delivering their closing submissions.

The government allocated more money to the national security fund and lashed out at Reporters Without Borders (RSF) after the NGO once again placed Hong Kong low on its annual press freedom index.

Trial of Tiananmen vigil activists

The national security trial of Tiananmen vigil activists Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan heard closing arguments from the defendants and the prosecution. Lee and Chow were leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

Lee’s defence lawyer, Erik Shum, spoke before a three-judge panel on May 18, urging the court not to merely “pay lip service” to human rights protections.

He argued that calls to “end one-party rule” in China should be considered legitimate political expression.

Lee, Chow, and the Alliance are facing a charge of “inciting subversion,” an offence under the Beijing-imposed national security law, over the group’s calls to end one-party rule in China during decades of candlelight vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. The offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars.

The Alliance had never proposed an “action plan” to mobilise supporters to topple the CCP, the lawyer said. “In the past 30 years, there has been no evidence showing that any person acted under the Alliance’s specific instruction,” Shum said in Cantonese.

In his closing submission, prosecutor Ned Lai argued the Alliance’s calls had exceeded the legitimate boundary of freedom of expression as the defendants intended to stoke hatred against Beijing.

“We say that their behaviour had crossed the line,” he said in Cantonese. “Freedom is not absolute.”

Chow, a barrister who represents herself in the trial, delivered her closing arguments on May 19.

She urged the court to safeguard the “dignity and bottom line of the law” and warned the judges not to become “accomplices” in an alleged government crackdown on free speech.

Chow said the crux of the case was whether the law protects the “perpetual rule” of the CCP or the rights of people to advocate democracy.

“Ending one-party rule means putting an end to the status quo, in which those in power are not bound by the law,” she said in Cantonese.

Senior counsel Priscilia Lam, representing the Alliance, argued the prosecution had not been able to present evidence of the group’s alleged incitement to subversion.

“What did the Alliance do to incite people to subvert state power?” Lam said in Cantonese. “I have heard nothing on this after sitting here for so long.”

The Alliance disbanded in 2021 after authorities banned the vigil for two years, citing Covid-19 restrictions, and arrested its leadership on national security allegations. Chow and Lee have been behind bars since September 2021.

Another defendant, former lawmaker Albert Ho, pleaded guilty when the trial opened in January.

The three-judge panel said they hope to deliver a verdict in “mid or late July.”

Gov’t reacts to UK trial conviction

The Hong Kong government denied any link to a high-profile UK court case after its trade officer was convicted of spying on overseas activists.

“From the outset, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government has been clearly stating that the allegations in this case are absolutely not related to the HKSAR Government and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London (London ETO), nor are we party to the case,” a government statement sent to the media on May 8.

The statement was issued a day after Bill Yuen, an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, and former UK Border Force official Peter Wai were found guilty under Britain’s national security laws of assisting a foreign intelligence service.

Yuen and Wai – both British-Chinese dual nationals – were accused of spying on Hong Kong pro-democracy activists living in Britain.

Among those the pair were said to have surveilled was Nathan Law, who is wanted by Hong Kong’s national security police with a bounty of HK$1,000,000.

Wanted activist arrested in Thailand

Hong Kong authorities declined to comment on reports that an activist wanted by the city’s national security police could face deportation to China after being arrested in Thailand for allegedly overstaying her visa.

Responding to media queries about concerns that wanted activist Zhang Xinyan could be transferred to China, the Security Bureau said on May 11 that it would not comment on news reports about law enforcement actions in other jurisdictions.

“Endangering national security is an extremely serious crime… no fugitive should harbour the illusion that they can evade criminal liability by fleeing Hong Kong,” the bureau said in a statement.

Zhang, 54, is wanted by Hong Kong’s national security police for allegedly committing subversion, a crime under Article 23 – also known as the city’s homegrown national security law.

She is among a group of 19 activists named in a round of arrest warrants issued in July 2025, with bounties between HK$200,000 and HK$1 million.

From February to June 2025, they were allegedly involved in the “Hong Kong Parliament,” a group of overseas activists who held unofficial polls outside the city to form a shadow legislature to “pursue the ideal of Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong.”

According to Human Rights Watch, Zhang holds refugee status issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

New allocation for national security fund

The Hong Kong government allocated an additional HK$5 billion to a national security special fund.

The government unveiled the funding on May 15, when it gazetted the government accounts for the fiscal year 2025-26.

It was the third allocation for national security since Beijing imposed the national security law in Hong Kong in June 2020.

The special fund was established the same year. It received an initial allocation of HK$8 billion in December 2020 and an additional HK$5 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2023.

The latest allocation thus brought the total amount to HK$18 billion.

In response to Ming Pao’s enquiry, the Financial Secretary’s Office said authorities will not disclose details of the funding, citing Article 14 of the national security law. It did not respond to whether the previous HK$13 billion funding had been depleted.

Worsening press freedom, FCC survey finds

Two out of three journalists say the working environment in Hong Kong has changed “for the worse” in the past year, according to the latest survey by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, released on May 11.

The 2026 FCC Press Freedom Survey, which received 78 responses from members, found that “67 per cent of respondents said the working environment for them as a journalist had changed for the worse in the last 12 months.”

The FCC pointed out that the survey “happened to take place” after Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was convicted and sentenced to jail, as well as Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong, the Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS), summoned representatives of several major foreign media outlets, shortly following the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire.

One respondent said that the warning by the OSNS to foreign journalists “should be seen as a watershed moment here in Hong Kong. It has created an increased chilling effect.”

Another respondent said that the 20-year sentence handed down to Lai “only further chills the local reporting environment.”

Gov’t reacts to RSF press freedom index

The Hong Kong government and the Legislative Council (LegCo) condemned Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in early May after the city was ranked low in the NGO’s annual press freedom index.

They also hit out after German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) awarded Lai, the jailed media tycoon, a press freedom prize on April 30.

In RSF’s 2026 global press freedom index, released on April 30, Hong Kong was ranked 140th out of 180 countries and territories – the same position as last year. The press freedom NGO highlighted the 20-year sentence handed down to Lai, who was convicted last year under the security law.

In response, the Hong Kong government issued a press release on May 1. It said that it “strongly condemned the attempts by an anti-China organisation and foreign media to sugarcoat the criminal acts of national security offender [Jimmy] Lai Chee-ying and to slander, smear, as well as attack the HKSAR by releasing a so-called press freedom index and presenting a so-called ‘award’. Such despicable behaviours totally disregarded the rule of law and twisted the facts, which must be strongly condemned.”

In a separate statement on the same day, the LegCo Secretariat said it “strongly condemned the release of a so-called press freedom index by a foreign media organisation and presentation of a so-called award to the national security offender Lai Chee-ying to sugarcoat his criminal acts, and smear the press freedom and rule of law” in Hong Kong.

RSF’s Aleksandra Bielakowska – who was denied entry to the city in 2024 – responded to the Hong Kong authorities.

“To make it clear once again: defending journalism is not ‘anti-China’; it is pro–press freedom,” she said on May 2. “At RSF, we stand arm in arm with Hong Kong journalists. We will not be intimidated and we continue supporting all media in Hong Kong, with the hope that one day we will see positive change and that the city will return to its golden years as an exemplar and beacon of press freedom.”

3 charged over alleged weapons training

Three people were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion after they were arrested by national security police over alleged illegal weapons training last year.

Students Wong Kit-lun, 20, and Tang Ngai-pok, 23, as well as waiter Chan Hiu-chun, 23, appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on May 15.

The trio stood in the dock beside Gallian Pang and Lee Chun-sum, who were also charged with conspiring to subvert state power – an offence under the Beijing-imposed national security law – on December 15.

The five men are among a group of 10 people – nine men and one woman – arrested on December 11 and 12 for alleged “unlawful drilling” – an offence under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, the homegrown national security law, also known as Article 23. The arrests marked the first time authorities had invoked the unlawful drilling offence.

Last month, the prosecution accused Wong, Tang and Chan of conspiring with Pang, Lee and “other persons unknown between November 1, 2024, and December 11, 2025, to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts to subvert the state power.”

Wong faced an additional charge of possession of child pornography, an offence under the Prevention of Child Pornography Ordinance.

The prosecution also charged Lee with allegedly possessing explosives and radio communications apparatus without a licence.

Prosecution and arrests figures

As of May 1, a total of 399 people have been arrested for “cases involving suspected acts or activities that endanger national security” since Beijing’s national security law came into effect, according to the Security Bureau. That figure includes those arrested under Article 23 and for other offences.

Of the 208 people and five companies that have so far been charged, 181 people and four companies have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing.

In total, 100 people and four companies have been charged under Beijing’s national security law, with 79 persons and three companies convicted. Thirteen people have been charged under Article 23, 11 of whom have been convicted.

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.

Hong Kong police took away seven people in Causeway Bay, where past public commemorations for China’s 1989 Tiananmen crackdown were once held, on Thursday, the 37th anniversary of the event.

Police said late on Thursday that five men and two women, aged 17 to 79, were stopped by officers on suspicion of “disrupting order” near Great George Street and East Point Road in Causeway Bay.

They were taken away from the scene for further investigation and were released later, according to police.

“The police force will act according to threats to national security, public safety, and public order,” they added.

Activists and members of the public defied a heavy police deployment at and around Victoria Park, the former site of the city’s annual Tiananmen vigils, as they showed up in Causeway Bay on Thursday to mark the 1989 crackdown.

In Pictures: Activists stopped near ex-vigil site amid large police deployment on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

Chan Po-ying, chairperson of the now-defunct League of Social Democrats, a pro-democracy party, arrived in Causeway Bay holding a yellow paper flower. She was quickly told by police at the scene to put away the flower and was later taken away in a police vehicle.

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.

The man was driven away in a police van. He was also taken away from Victoria Park by law enforcement during the Tiananmen crackdown anniversaries over the past two years.

HKFP saw two other men taken away in a police van: a man holding a candle and another man sitting cross-legged on the ground outside the Sogo department store.

Police also took away a woman gesturing “six” and “four” with her hands, local media reported.

For the fourth consecutive year, on the day of the crackdown anniversary, a patriotic food carnival was being held in Victoria Park, at the same spot where hundreds of thousands of people attended the Tiananmen vigils. The carnival will run until Sunday.

Some people walked around the park to remember the crackdown and the past vigils. A 70-year-old man surnamed Tin told HKFP it was a “pity” that Hong Kong has lost its tolerance for public commemoration on June 4 – the date of the 1989 crackdown.

Compared with previous years, police officers appeared more relaxed on Thursday, patrolling the park and its vicinity in smaller groups and conducting fewer searches than before.

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.

Leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the group that organised the vigils for decades, are standing trial for “inciting subversion” under the national security law. They face up to 10 years behind bars if convicted.

A verdict is expected in July.

It’s doubly exciting to see that Chief Executive John Lee is launching a public consultation for Hong Kong’s inaugural five-year plan.

The first reason for excitement is that we’ve just experienced a pretty well-run public consultation; the recently updated Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan generated a lot of submissions from NGOs, companies, and members of the public.

The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) seems to have done a good job of taking those submissions into account. In short, we’ve seen a proof of concept that public consultations seem to be effective.

The second reason for excitement is that China takes sustainability quite seriously in both word and deed. In aligning with China, the Hong Kong government has a golden opportunity to step up its sustainability game.

The outline of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan is 83 pages long. However, just as a very rough indicator of how seriously the topic is taken, Article 1, Chapter 1, Section 1 includes several comments about the energy transition and pollution.

Sustainability is considered important enough a topic to warrant some space in the prime real estate of those first few paragraphs, rubbing shoulders with big hitters like GDP and life expectancy. 

It might not be very scientific to measure a topic’s importance by which paragraph it lies in, but it is incredibly refreshing to see sustainability topics getting headline treatment instead of being tucked away on page 18.

In a similar vein, the top number in the Key Indicators of Economic and Social Development is GDP. However, in that very same table, there are binding objectives for carbon intensity goals, PM2.5 levels, and forest cover.

I get the sense that these are not just handwaved in order to hit a game of buzzword bingo – something that corporations are frequently guilty of. Rigorous thought has been put into integrating sustainability into the Five-Year Plan.

At the April 21 press conference, when Lee talked about the public consultation for the five-year plan, sustainability, carbon and pollution were not mentioned at all. Of course, GDP growth and the perennial issues of housing and education are all vital issues that need to be addressed.

However, if we’re talking in terms of five-year plans, it’s probably worth noting that in five years from now, the world needs to have carbon emissions at half of what they are today. And that in 25 years from now – just five more five-year plans away! – we need to be at net zero. Sustainability is vital too.

Of course, Hong Kong’s tiny landmass is not home to vast factories, refineries or farms. Most of the carbon that we emit is from producing electricity to power the towers that are our homes and offices.

So while emulating the priority that sustainability is afforded in China’s five-year plan is important, copy-pasting it wholesale would miss important nuance: that Hong Kong’s carbon shadow is much larger than our territorial footprint.

We import almost everything – food, energy, goods, and even water. The spectre of our carbon emissions haunts not only what we consume, but also the vast amounts of financing that flow across the world from our international financial centre.

Sustainability in Hong Kong is not just about plonking a few solar panels down; it’s a much deeper question about consumption and green finance.

That’s not to diminish the role of sustainability in our own territory; there’s plenty of room for more ambition, not just in carbon but with other forms of pollution.

For example, the Municipal Solid Waste charging scheme’s failure to progress beyond the pilot study means that there’s little push to reduce waste at source.

While it’s true that landfill rates are going down, incineration is going up – in other words, the generation of trash is not slowing down, but is instead just being diverted to the landfill in the sky. That’s not a long-term solution.

I hasten to add that putting sustainability higher on the agenda is not just important for the Hong Kong government. Company boards and executive teams ought to be discussing sustainability during their strategy meetings.

Hopefully, seeing sustainability high on the agenda in the government’s five-year plan will light a fire under corporations to up their sustainability game too.

All told, the idea of a public consultation for Hong Kong’s five-year plan is a wonderful opportunity. Public consultations have a prior form in moving the needle – the Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan has demonstrated that.

And by aligning Hong Kong’s five-year plan with China’s, we can achieve one of the most important things of all – putting sustainability on the agenda.