Hong Kong separatist party leader Andy Chan Ho-tin calls China ‘a threat to all free peoples in the world’ in fiery Foreign Correspondents’ Club speech
Beijing and Hong Kong governments condemn him and FCC for providing a platform to voice ‘unacceptable’ view that independence is only solution
The leader of a minor party facing a ban for promoting Hong Kong independence denounced China on Tuesday as “a threat to all free peoples in the world” and insisted separation was the only solution for the city in a defiant speech that elicited immediate and strong condemnation from Beijing.
Andy Chan Ho-tin, convenor of the Hong Kong National Party, painted a dark picture of the city’s freedoms and fate under Chinese rule, describing the past two decades since the handover of sovereignty from British governance as a period of regression rather than progress.
“Time and again, our government has shown that whatever ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ they claim to be upholding are communist mirages,” he said.
Chan cited as evidence the government’s bid to strip him of his right to contest the Legislative Council elections of 2016, the ban on HKNP from registering as a company, and the police proposal to outlaw his fledgling group altogether as a threat to national security.
“The situation is so dire that we dare say Hong Kong has never experienced such horrid colonialism until 1997,” he said. “Peking is now our colonial master, and the Hong Kong National Party has a real need to exist.”