Hong Kong activist on trial for subversion calls one-party rule ‘regression’
Chow Hang-tung says advocating end to one-party rule not same as seeking to oust party, while judge challenges her characterisation of 1989 crackdown
A Hong Kong barrister turned activist on trial for allegedly inciting subversion has accused Beijing of undermining the nation’s constitutional order by entrenching one-party rule, describing the move as a regression.
“A so-called paradox in the constitution of China is that nobody has ever tested in reality whether one-party rule is equivalent to leadership by the Communist Party of China,” Chow said.
“How should the line between dictatorship and leadership be drawn? The constitution plainly doesn’t have an answer.”
Chow, 41, was contesting allegations that she had instigated others to subvert the state by promoting an end to “one-party dictatorship”, one of five operational objectives of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.