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Lord Thurlow's Speech before the Global Coalition Against Article 23 Rally February 8, 2003
(Clearwisdom.net)
A dark cloud has been hanging over Hong Kong ever since it was announced
that by agreement between its authorities and the Mainland Chinese Government,
sweeping legal provisions are proposed under Article 23 that would erode the
rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents in ways that go far beyond the
acknowledged need of governments to prevent threats of security and
subversion. The measures proposed would undermine the principles of the Joint
Declaration.
The international community and all responsible voices in Hong Kong have
published their concerns. The freedom of the press is threatened; the business
world has fears for the conditions that have made Hong Kong a foremost
financial center and channel of capital to China's rapid development; the
Catholics and other churches are apprehensive; and at the center of the storm
are the practitioners of Falun Gong, the peaceful and non-violent group that
has become the victim for the most massive persecution in human history. Never
before has a government persecuted 100 million innocent victims among its own
citizens, terrorizing them with torture, beating to death and incarcerating
thousands in inhuman slave labor camps. The death toll is never declared and
the torturers are exempted from observance of laws.
Under the proposed Article 23 legislation, any group banned in Mainland
China on security grounds would have to be banned in Hong Kong. Under local
legal pressure, such a ban would have to be upheld in the Hong Kong Court. But
unfortunately, the independence of the administration of justice from official
manipulation under pressure from Beijing is itself under threat after the
miscarriage of justice in the harsh sentences of peaceful Hong Kong
demonstrators in the summer after a travesty of a trial. The world awaits the
result of an appeal to the higher court.
Falun Gong practitioners in Britain have warmly welcomed the representation
made at every Ministerial level in recent months by British spokesmen to
senior Chinese political figures. The Foreign Secretary and Lord Chancellor,
and most recently the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Ministers with
responsibility for Chinese affairs have made British concerns known. The
Governments of the US, Canada, Australia and others have protested. It is only
by exposure to public international shame that the Chinese Communist
Government can be persuaded to abstain from pressing Hong Kong to join in the
persecution of the innocent for nothing but their spiritual beliefs. China has
signed the International Convention on Human Rights, but its provisions are
ignored, flouted and abused.
Britain and the West look forward to a relationship of friendship with
China. We admire its long history as one of the greatest civilizations and
cultures of humanity. Mutual commerce will advance prosperity worldwide. But
friendship must be based on trust and there can be no trust in a regime that
kills, tortures and imprisons its own citizens for their beliefs, and Hong
Kong must not be turned into a police state under Article 23.
Posting date: 2/11/2003 |