Media Statement: In Response to the Hong Kong Government’s Issuance of a Wanted List for Overseas Pro-Democracy Activists

I call on the Canadian government to take urgent and decisive action to:

1. Strongly condemn the Hong Kong government’s NSL and the targeting of overseas activists, including Canadian citizens and residents, and call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Hong Kong.

2. Impose targeted sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials responsible for human rights violations and the erosion of Hong Kong’s freedoms.

3. Stop according any special rights or diplomatic status to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade offices in Canada.

4. Expedite the processing of PR application for Hong Kongers fleeing political persecution and to automatically renew their work and study permit in the meantime.

Media Statement
26.12.2024

MP Jenny Kwan Response to the Hong Kong Government’s Issuance of a Wanted List for Overseas Pro-Democracy Activists

I am deeply alarmed by the Hong Kong government’s issuance of a wanted list targeting overseas pro-democracy activists. This move highlights just how far-reaching and draconian the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) is designed to be. Its application has been abused from day one and this move is just another attempt to suppress dissent, curtail freedoms, and extend authoritarian control beyond borders. The law’s extraterritorial reach, targeting individuals in Canada and around the world, is shameless.

Since the implementation of the NSL in 2020, Hong Kong’s freedoms and democratic institutions have been systematically dismantled. The Sino-British Joint Declaration, a United Nations-registered treaty, guaranteed Hong Kong’s autonomy, freedoms, and way of life for 50 years following the 1997 handover. By imposing the NSL and decimating Hong Kong’s autonomy, the Chinese government has broken its promises to the people of Hong Kong and the world. It only serves to undermine China’s attempt to rebuild relations in Canada and in the global stage.

I call on the Canadian government to take urgent and decisive action to:

2. Impose targeted sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials responsible for human rights violations and the erosion of Hong Kong’s freedoms.

3. Stop according any special rights or diplomatic status to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade offices in Canada.

4. Expedite the processing of PR application for Hong Kongers fleeing political persecution and to automatically renew their work and study permit in the meantime.

Targeted sanctions against officials who perpetuate these abuses are a necessary and proportionate response to this growing authoritarianism. The international community must stand united against the ongoing suppression of democracy and human rights in Hong Kong.

I stand in solidarity with the courageous people of Hong Kong, who continue to fight for their freedoms despite immense risks.

-30-

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“UBC, of course, can rent their space to anybody. However, from my perspective, I think that you should be looking at some ethical standards that should apply,” she said.

“In the very minimum, one would think that any organization, any institution that’s going to rent out a space to a government that is a regular, persistent, violent human rights violators, that they would apply some standards to it.”

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“It’s just basically saying, well, it doesn’t matter. We’re blind to all of these issues,” she said.

“As a global institution, which is what UBC is, you would think that they would have a little bit more thought than to say, ‘We will just follow the regulations of basic rental requirements.’ That’s not good enough.”