RETURN TO THE WILDERNESS: Democrats Begin Their Search for Survival Strategies Under Hong Kong’s New National Security Regime

(Note: This article was first published by Hong Kong Free Press, on April 25, 2021, under the title “Back to the Wilderness: Is There Still a Role for Democrats Under Hong Kong's New National Security Regime?”}  The familiar sight and sound of Democratic Party flags and a pre-recorded loudhailer message seemed strangely out of place and so did the single sidewalk stall set up on a windy Causeway Bay street corner. It was noontime on Sunday April 11, …

FREE SPEECH: NEW LIMITS, NEW PUNISHMENTS, AND THE FATE OF BENNY TAI

He’s back! Benny Tai is making waves again. No sooner had the Occupy protest effect finally faded than Professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting【戴耀廷】 sparked another important political controversy. This time it’s about free speech and the nature of dictatorship. Tai is a tenured member of the Law Faculty at the University of Hong Kong and the 2014 …

FOR PATRIOTS ONLY: HONG KONG’S “NEW LOOK” LEGISALTIVE COUNCIL

(Note: This article was first published by Hong Kong Free Press on April 2, under the title “Patriots only please: How Beijing secured Hong Kong's legislature from any danger of democratic infiltration”)  Details are now falling into place on the re-design of Hong Kong’s local law-making body, the Legislative Council. These details follow from the nine-point decision on general principles passed by the National People’s Congress in Beijing, on March 11.  ( …