Xu Zhengyu, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, who arrived in London a few days ago, was protested by Hong Kong immigrants when he attended an event in the City of London on the 17th. During the period, some protesters were almost knocked away by a vehicle suspected of carrying Xu Zhengyu, and were attacked by a foreign man.
At noon on Monday (17th), when Xu Zhengyu left in his car after attending the Guildhall forum in the City of London, some protesters caught up with them, intending to intercept their demands.
According to the video uploaded on the social platform, when the incident happened, protesters attempted to intercept two vehicles suspected of carrying Xu Zhengyu and Hong Kong government officials on the road, but the vehicles did not stop and only slowed down to advance towards the demonstrators. At that time, a foreign man holding a long umbrella and suspected of being a security guard rushed out and forcibly pushed the protesters who were blocking the car away from the vehicle’s driving route. In the end, the man walked into the Bank of China commercial building, but the protesters were prevented from entering because they were stopped by the building staff.
“Small Roy” is one of the people who participated in the traffic jam, and he stayed in the UK as a political asylum seeker. He told the media that he hoped to intercept Xu Zhengyu’s car to express his appeal, and asked Xu why the British government wanted to cooperate with him.
“Small Roy” means that during the conflict, his mouth was injured by a foreign man, and his left wrist and right arm were hit. He was outraged by the incident and said he would pursue it.
John, who also stopped a car, said that the purpose of stopping the car was to express that “Hong Kong CCP officials are not welcome in this free land.” “What they do in Hong Kong violates human rights every day. As overseas Hong Kong people They have the responsibility to express that they cannot assume that everything is business as usual overseas, and Hong Kong people overseas will not be silenced by them.”
John also said that he would investigate the incident and cooperate with the police investigation.
Previously, Xu Zhengyu attended the “Innovative Finance Global Summit 2023” and delivered a speech. Outside the venue, there were protests organized by the “Political Prisoner Concern Group”.
The “Political Prisoners Concern Group” criticized the Hong Kong government for destroying Hong Kong’s freedom and refused to return their MPF to Hong Kong people who immigrated to the UK with BNO visas, saying that the UK should not allow Xu Zhengyu to attend events in the UK.
Benedict Rogers, CEO of “Hong Kong Monitor” who attended the demonstration, said that Xu Zhengyu represented the regime that destroyed and trampled on the Sino-British Joint Declaration, destroyed Hong Kong’s freedom and the rule of law, and turned Hong Kong into another city under the control of the Chinese Communist Party. “He should not be allowed to visit the UK, he should be sanctioned, he should be banned from entering the country.”
Rogers also pointed out that Xu Zhengyu’s department is responsible for prohibiting immigrants from Hong Kong from withdrawing their MPF, and the British government should put pressure on him and the British banks that have MPF business.
Media interviews repeatedly rejected Journalist Association: Seriously harming press freedom
During his visit to Hong Kong, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China, attended the opening ceremony and special lecture of the “National Security Education Day” at the Wanchai Convention and Exhibition last Saturday. The Hong Kong Journalists Association recently issued a statement stating that the Information Services Department of the Government does not accept applications from a number of media outlets and refuses them to attend interviews. Worried that the Hong Kong government’s refusal of media interviews will become the norm and seriously damage the freedom of the press in Hong Kong. We urge the authorities to explain as soon as possible and take appropriate measures to protect journalists’ interviewing rights.
According to the statement, it is understood that media organizations planning to interview on the spot must fill in the application form distributed by the Government Information Service in advance, and then must be screened by prescription. On the day of the event, several media organizations were notified by the Government Information Office that their applications were not accepted and they were refused to attend the interview.
The statement pointed out that after the flag-raising ceremony and the swearing-in ceremony of the new government on July 1 last year, this is the second time that a reporter from a media organization has been refused by the government to cover an official event. However, unlike last year, the authorities did not explain the reasons for refusing interviews with the media this time. This Council questioned the rationality of the government’s selection of media organizations, and the screening criteria are not transparent.
The Journalists Association expressed concern that the government’s refusal of media interviews will become the norm, hindering the flow of information, seriously damaging the freedom of the press in Hong Kong, and not helping to promote official information. Urge the authorities to explain the reasons for the practice as soon as possible and take appropriate measures.
According to Hong Kong media reports, in addition to the opening ceremony and special lecture of the “National Security Education Day for All”, Xia Baolong also visited the Legislative Council on Sunday (16th). The Legislative Council building has been closed since the evening of April 15, and only members of parliament and related staff are allowed to enter. During Xia’s visit, reporters could only conduct interviews outside the building. In the past, when officials from the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the Liaison Office visited the Legislative Council, reporters could conduct interviews in the building.
Cang Ming, the new cabinet of HKBU’s disguised DQ student union: will appeal to the end
Baptist University announced yesterday (17th) that a complaint against the new cabinet of the Student Union “Cang Ming” was upheld and that relevant students would be subject to disciplinary action, which means DQ (disqualification) of the Student Union Council in disguise. “Cangming” issued a statement in response, expressing regret for the school’s punishment and emphasizing that it will appeal to the end in accordance with the school’s disciplinary procedures.
The HKBU issued a statement on the 17th, saying that it received complaints about the content of the secretary’s election platform in early April. The school believes that the information released by the secretary on the online platform is “exaggerated, lacks factual basis and biased” and “does not meet social standards. and Values”, ruled that the complaint against the board of directors was established, and disciplinary action would be taken against the students involved.
The HKBU Student Union Council “Cangming” issued a statement on social media in the early hours of today (18th) in response, stating that it received a “notification” from the school on April 4th of receiving a relevant complaint, and has not received a copy of the complaint letter for two weeks so far , and do not know the specific content of the complaint. On the other hand, the school only selectively disclosed part of the content on the grounds of protecting the privacy of the complainant.
The director will point out that in this incident, as the object of the complaint, he neither has the right to participate in the entire hearing process, nor has the school given the opportunity to make a public clarification or response. Urge the school to give a reasonable explanation to the board of directors, students, and the general public to prove that the school’s punishment was “understood in detail” and complies with procedural justice.
The statement reiterated that the relevant materials cited in the election platform are all objective facts that can be found from online reports, and are by no means exaggerated or lacking factual basis. Therefore, members of the board of directors will appeal to the end in accordance with the school’s disciplinary procedures.
The statement revealed that one of the school’s punishments for members of the board of directors is to prohibit the director, the deputy director-general of internal affairs, the deputy director-general of external affairs, and the foreign affairs secretary from participating in the management of the student union, which will take effect immediately until the end of August next year. During the term of office, if the director-general and the deputy director-general of internal and external affairs are vacant at the same time, or if there are less than five members of the board of directors, the board of directors will be automatically disbanded. In other words, if the school’s punishment takes effect, the student council will be automatically disbanded.
The board of directors regrets the decision of the school to punish the members of the board of directors, and urges the school to withdraw the relevant decision, respect student autonomy, and protect the autonomy of the institution.
Cang Ming, the cabinet of the current board of directors of the Baptist University Student Union, only officially took office in April. “Cangming” stated in his inauguration declaration that the eight student unions have faced unprecedented pressure in recent years. “Even if the political environment is bad, our cabinet will never pretend to be silent. In adversity, we should be more self-reliant.” In the coming year, the conference will take current affairs, school administration and welfare as the three major directions, and inherit the HKBU Student Union. “Unite all fellow travelers and inherit The will of the sages ignites the flame of hope and defends universal values.”
After Hong Kong Broadband, a local broadband service provider, confirmed that there was a private equity fund to negotiate for the acquisition, several investors reported that they were considering participating in the bid. According to the latest foreign report, China Mobile, a Chinese telecommunications company, intends to compete for Hong Kong Broadband.
Reuters quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that China Mobile has issued a request for proposals to a number of investment banks in the past few weeks, soliciting proposals for mergers and acquisitions and privatization of Hong Kong Broadband, but it is still in the stage of collecting opinions and has not yet decided whether to submit a formal offer.
The latest market value of Hong Kong Broadband is about 8.6 billion yuan.
In early March this year, Hong Kong Broadband announced that I Squared Asia Advisors Pte Ltd., a shareholder of Global Global Communications (HGC), intends to propose an acquisition to Hong Kong Broadband through HGC. The two sides plan to discuss further, but no progress has been made so far.
In addition to I Squared, another private equity fund, Pacific Alliance Capital (PAG), also announced its intention to bid last month.
Bloomberg quoted sources at the time as saying that funds with Chinese-funded companies or government backgrounds may be interested in HKBN, believing that HKBN is a technology-related asset and involves data security issues.
