HK Alliance Is Violating Security Law, Says Scholar

Mainland scholar Tian Feilong has accused the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China of violating the new national security law, claiming the group has been “colluding with foreign forces” and “participating in subversive political activities in the name of democracy and patriotism.”

In an opinion piece published in the Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Tian, who’s an associate professor of law at Beijing’s Beihang University, accused the alliance – which organises the annual June 4 vigil at Victoria Park – of staging a colour revolution with the help of funding from overseas.

He also claimed that the alliance has sparked anti-China sentiments by trying to “impose a narrative on history” by displaying “untrue and provocative” information about the Tiananmen massacre at its June 4 museum.

Tian, who’s also a key member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, further alleged that the group has taken “radical action to subvert the state", saying it has been trying to wreck the country’s constitutional order and has been interfering with the work and duties of the central government and SAR administration.

He said the alliance has participated in a lot of mass rallies organised by the opposition, claiming that many of these activities were linked to rioting.

As the national security law is not retroactive, Tian said authorities should consider whether the alliance has breached other local laws, such as the Societies Ordinance and Crimes Ordinance, adding that officials ought to “exhaust local legal resources and means to prosecute and punish” the group.

In response, the alliance's vice chairman, Albert Ho, said he found Tian's remarks "astonishing and incomprehensible".

"We had been engaged in our activities in the last three decades in a peaceful, rational and non-violent manner... Hong Kong is an open and pluralistic society and I can hardly understand how all these lawful activities have suddenly been stigmatised and turned into something that is illegal and constitutes an offence against national security," he said.

Ho, who's also a lawyer, said there is now a higher risk that members of the group will be arrested, but they will not do anything differently.

"I think the risk [of being arrested] has become enhanced. And of course, they would like to see that many people, including activists, will be scared and then stay away from what they had been engaged in. But I would like to reiterate that I myself, and together with my colleagues, we will continue to stand firm to our principles and we will continue to fight for what we believe in."

This year’s annual June 4 vigil was banned by the police for the first time in 30 years, on public health grounds. Nevertheless, several thousand people gathered at Victoria Park and elsewhere to commemorate the victims of the 1989 massacre.

The alliance’s core members, Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho and Richard Tsoi, were later charged with inciting an unauthorised assembly.