Hong Kong security chief slams ‘artistic creations’ used as guise to endanger national security, does not confirm if Pillar of Shame sculptor is wanted
- Security minister Chris Tang’s letter revealed by Danish artist Jens Galschiot, who created piece marking Tiananmen Square crackdown
- Galschiot, based in Denmark, had written to city authorities seeking clarification on an arrest warrant for him as reported by Chinese media
Hong Kong’s security chief has slammed what he says is a common tactic of using “artistic creations” to endanger national security, but has stopped short of confirming whether a Danish sculptor is on a wanted list.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung made the comments in a letter disclosed to the media by Danish artist Jens Galschiot, who created the Pillar of Shame piece marking the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Galschiot had earlier this month written to local authorities seeking clarification on whether national security police had an arrest warrant out on him as reported by a Chinese-language media outlet.
Hong Kong security chief says seizing of sculpture unrelated to June 4 anniversary
“In order not to prejudice the effectiveness of any law enforcement action that may be taken, the police will not respond to any inquiry in relation to individual cases,” Tang wrote in a letter dated on Monday and disclosed by Galschiot.
The Pillar of Shame, previously located at the Kadoorie Centre in Yuen Long, an agricultural research facility run by the University of Hong Kong (HKU), was in May seized by police over a subversion case.
Tang said the city “will not hesitate” when it came to bringing to justice any person who had violated national security, pointing to the force’s earlier move to place a HK$1 million (US$127,600) bounty for each arrest of eight Hong Kong activists based overseas and wanted for alleged breaches of the law.
“It is a common modus operandi of those seeking to endanger national security to engage in such acts and activities under the pretexts of ‘peaceful advocacy’, ‘artistic creations’ and so forth,” he warned.
Galschiot, based in Denmark, on Monday voiced disappointment with Tang’s reply and told reporters he had contacted the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and called on it to reach out to Hong Kong authorities to clarify his situation.
“It is puzzling that [Tang] in his letter devotes so much to describing elements of the [national security law], without revealing whether I am officially charged, which was the core of my inquiry,” he said, adding he would respond to the Hong Kong government’s letter in the coming days.
Goddess of Democracy statue, Tiananmen memorial removed from Hong Kong campuses
The Pillar of Shame sculpture had stood at HKU’s campus since 1997, when the British handed the city back to China, and was regularly displayed at the annual June 4 vigil in Victoria Park. But university management moved the artwork to the Kadoorie Centre in December 2021.
Galschiot had been asking for the statue – which he said was his private property – to be returned to him and indicated he was willing to travel to Hong Kong to personally retrieve the piece.
Without commenting on an individual case, Tang said in the letter that any property or exhibit seized for suspected criminal activity in connection with national security offences would be handled and potentially disposed of in accordance with the law.
Pillar of Shame sculpture is a ‘sham’, HKU’s former council chairman says
Hong Kong was previously the only city on Chinese soil that held large-scale vigils mourning those killed in Tiananmen Square in 1989, before Beijing imposed the national security law on the city in 2020.
Police banned the annual event in 2020 and 2021, citing public health concerns amid the Covid-19 pandemic. There was no attempt to hold a vigil in 2022.
Former vice-chairwoman Chow Hang-tung is awaiting trial on subversion charges, along with the group’s ex-chairman Lee Cheuk-yan and former vice-chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan.
