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Speech by UK Lord Thurlow Condemning Jiang Regime's Pressuring Hong Kong to Pass Article 23
(Clearwisdom.net) On June 28, the "Global Coalition Against Article 23" held a
press conference in front of Chinese Embassy in London against Article 23 and to support the Hong
Kong people. Many British people who care about freedom and democracy in Hong Kong and its future
participated in the activity. Former Diplomat Lord Thurlow spoke at the press conference, condemning
the Jiang's regime's pressuring of the Hong Kong government to pass Article 23, which is harmful to
Hong Kong's democracy, freedom and prosperity. Below is the speech. In the last 20 years there has been a widespread and welcome transition from tyranny to democracy
in all the continents in Europe after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in Asia, in South America
and in Africa. But to the regret of the rest of the world there is one spectacular instance of a
reversal of the move towards freedom, in the worsening of conditions for the people of China, with
whom all countries desire friendly relations of confidence. China's police state over the last four years has moved not forwards but backwards. In contrast
to the loosening of central controls of industry the Government under Jiang Zemin has carried out
the most massive persecution in human history against 100 million of its own citizens: more than
100,000 have been confined in horrific slave labour camps at the mercy of cruel guards explicitly
encouraged to ignore all the state laws to perpetrate physical violence against the practitioners of
Falun Gong. Thousands of men, women and even children have been murdered after prolonged torture for
their refusal to surrender their faith, centred on truth, compassion and tolerance. There has been no improvement after the change of top leadership in recent months: in some areas
the suppression has intensified. The abuses have been accompanied by a vast propaganda campaign at
home and abroad of lies and distortion of facts to misrepresent Falun Gong as a harmful social
influence, whereas for several years previously the authorities had encouraged its spread as
promoting good citizenship and health. And now there is an imminent threat under pressure from the Chinese Government to reduce Human
Rights in Hong Kong. The Joint Declaration and Basic Agreement signed by the Governments of the
United Kingdom and China provided for one country but two systems: It was agreed that Hong Kong
would continue to enjoy its traditional rights of freedom of association, speech and beliefs. There
was to be protection of security and against subversion as in most countries and the last British
Governor introduced a suitable draft article for the Constitution which the Hong Kong Legislative
Council refused to accept, leaving a gap to be filled. The Hong Kong administration has now proposed to fill the gap but its new draft Article 23 is
unacceptable in several respects, undermining the right of the Hong Kong Court and legal system to
determine the law. Under prompting from Beijing any organisation banned in the Chinese police state
would have to be banned in Hong Kong. This is a breach of the spirit and principles of the Joint
Declaration. The British Government has expressed its concern and asked for reconsideration. The United States
and Canadian Governments have also protested and the European Parliament has passed a resolution in
opposition to the reduction of Human Rights in Hong Kong. On July 1, a vast protest demonstration is due to be held in Hong Kong. We ask that the people of
this country and the press and media should show their active concern and support the demand for the
removal of the threat to freedom of belief and expression.
Posting date: 7/27/2003 |