More than 10 civil rights activist groups held a press conference in front of the Legislature on Monday in support of Hong Kong’s 47 jailed pro-democracy activists. The groups harshly condemned the actions of the CCP, calling on them to release and drop the political charges against pro-democracy activists, withdraw the national security law, implement universal suffrage, and restore the democracy of Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government charged 47 pro-democracy figures who participated in the 2020 Legislative Council Primaries with “conspiracy to subvert state power” under a national security law. Director of the Peng Foundation for Culture and Education Lo Chun-xuan (羅浚晅) called the verdict a “death knell” of Hong Kong democracy, citing it as evidence of the CCP’s anti-democracy and anti-human rights stance. Lo also said the verdict exposes the lipservice of the “One country, two systems” policy.

His views were echoed by Taiwan Hong Kong Association director-general Sang Pu (桑普), who said that Taiwan should learn from Hong Kong’s example to not trust promises made by the CCP. Pu said that Taiwan must resist attempts at its own annexation by China, and CCP aggression to avoid the same fate as Hong Kong.

Asia-Pacific Liberal Women Association chairwoman Yang Huang Maysing (楊黃美幸) also called on the international community to respond with economic sanctions, while calling for further internal resistance amongst Hong Kong and Chinese citizens for their rights. Yang said although the price of freedoms may be high, their fight would be supported by the rest of the democratic world.

The Hongkongers do not stand with China as much as China claims, said Hong Kong Outlanders secretary-general Sky Fung (馮詔天). He added that he hoped people from all over the world would continue to shine a spotlight on the struggle of Hong Kong, and lend them their support.

Source: Radio Taiwan International