Twelve Hong Kong young protesters on a speedy boat were seized by Chinese police on August 23 in the seas outside Hong Kong during their attempt to flee to Taiwan. They were subsequently detained in Shenzhen Yantian Detention Center under unknown conditions and for an unknown duration. Family members of some of them appointed independent Chinese lawyers for them, but all such lawyers, at least six, were declined visits to the detainees for outrageous reasons, e.g. no notarized document as a lawyer. Instead, as usual in China, at least some detainees allegedly have had lawyers appointed, likely designated by the Chinese authorities, without knowledge of and to the surprise of their family members. National security officials even told at least one independent lawyer to drop the case, alleging that such matters were sensitive and would destroy his career. Another independent lawyer was asked to report back to his hometown’s judicial bureau in Sichuan and was warned to silently handle this case without media exposure. When asked by reporters as to the possibility of requesting the Chinese authorities to send such detainees back to Hong Kong for trial, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam unequivocally refused to do so, alleging that Chinese authorities would have their own jurisdiction over such a matter.

In my view, overall, this matter should be in the top priority list demanding international concern. It is even more important than the existing LegCo stay/leave controversy and/or the call for a genuinely democratic Legco election. The reason is simple: All Lives Matter! There are human lives that need to be saved from any prolonged detention, inhumane treatment, torture, unfair trial and sentencing. According to Hong Kong Cable News of September 11, among those twelve detainees, two have depression symptoms and one has asthma. The situation could be worsening and alarming. Family members of six detainees stood up courageously and held a press conference on September 12 in Hong Kong. At least two family members were declined to visit the relevant detainees even after they had presented valid notarized documents. In other words, the CCP regime does not bother to follow any minimum human rights or actually humanitarian standards. Any alleged blocking reason is just an excuse. This entire orchestrated crackdown is not any form of law enforcement, but terrorist-alike abduction and detention. All six family members raised four demands during the press conference: reject government-designated lawyers and allow family-appointed lawyers to visit detainees; provide adequate medication to detainees in need; allow detainees to make phone calls with family members; demand HKSAR government to ensure human rights of Hong Kong people are safeguarded and to bring all detainees back to Hong Kong.

Although these demands are righteous, I do not expect the CCP regime will on its own make any concession on moral grounds. The CCP officials are kidnappers, not law-abiding enforcement officials. They have no independent thinking but would strictly follow orders from the CCP regime. They always serve the core interests of those high-level officials in the Politburo and their families, not justice. China will consider these twelve detainees as bargaining chips in its new “hostage diplomacy” game with the U.S. There were reports saying that the Chinese authorities would consider the detainees not only as unlawfully traversing the border between Hong Kong and China, but also as organizing to traverse the border. If so, this would lift criminal penalties from one-year imprisonment up to life imprisonment. There is actually no need for us to go into why, as the CCP regime always follows the “might is right” doctrine. In view of the unambiguously accelerating U.S.-China tensions before and after the U.S. presidential election, I anticipate that the CCP regime would continue to make threatening gestures at the free world and inhumane crackdowns on Hong Kong people.

The only way which can mitigate such harm is not to hilariously beg, kneel or pray for CCP’s grace, but to make sure that Hong Kong people would not lose focus on this matter, and also to openly and solemnly alarm the free world to keep tabs on this and to place it at the top of the priority list in their own foreign policies. All lives matter. Hong Kong’s experience tells the world what Red China really is. All free countries, including the U.S., Five Eyes, Japan, Taiwan and EU countries, should tell China that it has crossed the line and entered into an adversarial relationship with the entire humanity (imitating what China Foreign Minister Wang Yi screamed on Czech), and China should pay if there is any unlawfully prolonged, improper or inhuman treatment and/or deprivation of human rights of any of the twelve detainees. The world is watching. The detainees are shivering and persisting. China is laughing, but that will not be long.

As Winston Churchill said, one ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it; if you do that, you will double the danger; but if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Young protesters in Hong Kong have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. Their courage is rightly esteemed the first of their human qualities, because it is this quality which guarantees all others. Special thanks to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who on September 10 unequivocally raised concerns over this “Kidnapped Ocean’s Twelve” incident against China: no status report of detainees; no announcement of charges on them; no trust in Carrie Lam; calling for abiding by lawful procedural safeguards. Now it is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Last but not least, there is yet another geopolitical perspective in connection with this incident. Nowadays there are increasing military tensions between China and Taiwan. The seizure site of the Ocean’s Twelve and its surroundings have been swamped with CCP Liberation Army and police vessels. From the perspective of Hong Kong protesters, the sea route of fleeing from Hong Kong to elsewhere has been completely blocked. Spotlights are now on every inch from the northern part of the South China Sea to the Taiwan Strait. This has posed an unprecedented challenge to those activists who cannot, and/or who do not expect they can, lawfully leave Hong Kong. Patience and peace of mind are exceptionally important these days. Let prayers be with them.

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