Hong Kong, mainland Chinese authorities slam UN criticism of handling of Tiananmen Square crackdown anniversary
- Authorities hit back after UN reaction to June 4 crackdown anniversary detentions and international consulates’ commemorations of event
- Chinese Foreign Ministry says international views attempt to ‘smear China and interfere in its internal affairs’
The UN on Monday said it was alarmed over Hong Kong detentions of people who tried to mark the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown at the weekend.
But the Chinese foreign ministry dismissed the criticism and said it was an attempt to “smear China and interfere in its internal affairs” that would not succeed.
The war of words broke out after police detained a total of 32 people over the weekend in connection with the June 4 anniversary – eight on Saturday and 24 on Sunday.
There were five arrests, and others, including journalist Mak Yin-ting, were detained but later released.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said: “We are alarmed by reports of detentions linked to the June 4 anniversary.”
It added: “We urge the release of anyone detained for exercising freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. We call on authorities to fully abide by obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
On Sunday, the foreign ministry’s commissioner in the city issued a statement “strongly rejecting and deploring” commemorations by foreign consulates as a “self-humiliating political farce”.
A spokesman for the commissioner pointed to the consulates of the United States and Canada.
“By hyping up an event that has long come to a conclusion, a small number of external forces are obsessed with acting as clowns to throw dirty water on China, put a spoke in the wheel of Hong Kong’s development, and incite antagonism and confrontation,” he said.
“Those who play this trick are just overestimating their own strength and their plots will be consigned to the dustbin of history.”
Thousands of police officers to patrol Hong Kong on Tiananmen Square anniversary
The consulates of Britain and Australia, as well as the European Union’s office, also posted commemorative images or messages on social media on Sunday.
The Canadian consulate’s message said that it joined Hongkongers and others around the world in “remembering the violent crackdown against unarmed and peaceful citizens” on June 4, 1989.
A spokesman for the Chief Executive’s Office on Monday said it would not comment on the consulates’ actions.
But a Security Bureau spokesman rejected the UN and journalists’ association views as “fact-twisting and unfounded”.
“The government law enforcement agencies will continue to enforce the laws without fear or favour to safeguard national security and social order,” he said.
The bureau maintained that residents’ freedoms and rights were guaranteed by the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
The bureau also noted that the International Covenant on Human and Civil Rights included exemptions “necessary for protection of national security, public safety, public order or the rights and freedoms of others”.
Police arrested five people in the area of Causeway Bay’s Victoria Park on Saturday and Sunday. They were released on bail on Monday, but ordered to report back to police in early July.
Most were detained for alleged “acts with a seditious intention” and for “behaving in a disorderly manner in a public place”.
Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigil: police close down part of Victoria Park
Police also arrested a 53-year-old woman on Sunday night in Victoria Park for alleged obstruction of police officers.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association on Monday said Mak was reporting for Radio France Internationale in Causeway Bay when she was stopped by police around 6pm on Sunday.
She was later taken to Wan Chai Police Station where she was detained until 11pm, then freed without charge.
“We urge the police to respect the rights of journalists to carry out their reporting duties and not to arbitrarily detain them, which seriously obstructs their work. We request that police explain this incident,” the association said.
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Carnival replaces vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary
The association added Mak had shown her media credentials to officers when she was first stopped but was told she would still be searched.
There were also reports that officers confiscated a black painting of a candle at a store in Sai Kung on Sunday.
A private car with the licence number “US8964” was impounded in Causeway Bay and a Yuen Long lamp post with the number “FA 8964” was also cordoned off.
Hong Kong’s opposition Democratic Party said the actions taken by the authorities had gone too far and could fuel social conflicts.
“The government’s excessive sensitivity towards a so-called ‘sensitive day’ not only disturbs the public but also fails to mend societal divisions,” said Chan Po-ming, the party’s spokesman for economic and fiscal policy.
“Instead, it may cause residents to worry about the implementation of one country, two systems and the protection of their rights under the Basic Law.”
But Professor Lau Siu-kai, just appointed as an adviser on government policy, said police’s high profile actions acted as a deterrent to people who might think of chancing their luck with protests.
“You may see it as a preventive self-defence tactic,” said Lau, also a consultant at semi-official Beijing think tank the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies.
Hong Kong, once the only place on Chinese soil that large scale June 4 commemorations were allowed, has not had its landmark June 4 vigil at Victoria Park since 2019.
The event was organised by the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which disbanded in 2021 and attracted tens of thousands of people.
But the authorities refused to grant approval for the event in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
No other organisations stepped up to organise a vigil in 2022 or this year.
