An alliance of more than 20 labor unions and a pro-democracy student group will host a referendum on whether to greenlight a mass strike and school boycott over a pending national security law tailormade for Hong Kong. The coalition, which has 23 unions representing 10,000 workers as of Saturday, covers industries ranging from the construction sector to accounting, transport and airline staff. The group said in a press conference on Saturday that it plans to host the referendum across the city on June 14 and amass votes from at least 60,000 members in hopes to put a stop to the pending national security law. The alliance would only go forward with plans for a general strike only if 60% of the voters agree to one. The National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, voted to enact a national security law customized for Hong Kong that would ban secession, subversion, terrorism, and foreign interference in the city. The passing of the law, which would bypass Hong Kong’s legislature, could come as early as the end of this month. When asked if they were optimistic about getting 50,000 new members within a week, the group said it was not worried about meeting the minimum threshold. Even if the alliance fails to gather a minimum of 60,000 members within a week, they would still host the referendum as planned and allow workers to sign up and vote at physical booths on the day. “We won’t know how many people will actually show up until that day,” said Alex Tsui, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Hotel Employees Union. Tsui added that a referendum was the best way to represent public opinion and urged workers to come forward to cast their vote over the proposed national security law. The strike, should it be given the go ahead, would be launched in phases. The first phase of industrial action would span three days, with workers taking sick or annual leaves in protest. In the second phase, workers would refuse to take part in their duties. “This is a labor referendum. A very clear and strong sign from the labour [sector] to tell the government … that decent working men and women are against and are deeply concerned about the ‘one country, two systems’ being removed entirely by this new legislation,” said Carol Ng, chairperson of the Confederation of Trade Unions. Separately, a student activist group also announced on Saturday that they would be hosting a referendum on the same day for students on whether they would organise a city-wide boycott of classes over the proposed law. They would start planning for a school boycott if 60% of 10,000 voters agree to one.

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Labour coalition and students to hold referendum over mass strike against Hong Kong national security law

The organizer for Hong Kong’s annual June 4 vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for a digital museum, amidst growing fears that a national security law would force the group to shut down. Lee Cheuk-yan, chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said they aim to raise HK$1.5 million (US$193,537) to build a June 4th Museum of Memory and Human Rights, a permanent online archive to commemorate the incident. The virtual museum, to be launched in September 2021, would preserve historical archives and relics of victims from the 1989 crackdown in Beijing, in which thousands were said to have been killed although there has never been an official death toll. The group would collect historical documents, diaries, audio recordings and video footage from university libraries and government archives around the world and translate them into English. Lee, who announced the Kickstarter campaign during a press conference on Saturday, said there was an urgent need to set up the digital museum now more than ever. “We don’t know what kind of suppression the group will face when the national security law comes into effect. The outlook for the future is really unstable,” Lee said. The National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, voted to enact a national security law customized for Hong Kong that would ban secession, subversion, terrorism, and foreign interference in the city. The passing of the law, which would bypass Hong Kong’s legislature, could come as early as the end of this month. The funds from the campaign, which runs for 60 days until August, would also go towards inviting scholars and artists to design online interactive exhibitions. The virtual museum will also be open source to help others build similar online human rights museums, the group said. Lee said he was confident the crowdfunding campaign would be successful as the June 4 vigil this year had received an “unprecedented level” of attention. Thousands of people in Hong Kong defied a police ban of the 31st anniversary of the crackdown in Victoria Park on Thursday. The ban, which was issued over health concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meant that the group was unable to raise funds in the park like they had in previous years. The group, whose annual expenditure reaches HK$1.7 million (US$219,342), was only able to raise HK$800,000 (US$103,200) this year. When asked if the virtual museum would become a target for mainland Chinese online hackers, the group said that the data would be encrypted and they would ensure the physical records would be well protected. The alliance is also in charge of setting up the June 4th Museum located in Mong Kok, which hosts exhibitions and carries relics from victims. The group said the museum has been on the receiving end of harassment, intimidation and vandalism over the years.

June 4 vigil organizer launches crowdfunding campaign for virtual museum

A Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker who claimed he was being followed by two men said the city’s people were “no longer absolutely safe”, amidst growing fears over a looming national security law. Civic Party lawmaker Jeremy Tam said he was followed by two men for a period of time after leaving the Legislative Council in Admiralty at 7 p.m on Friday. In a press conference on Saturday, Tam said the two men had “harbored ill intentions” and had taken photos of him secretly. In a two minute video uploaded to his Facebook page, the video shows one of the two men speaking in Cantonese with a mainland Chinese accent and denies following Tam or that he knows him. When Tam confronts one of the men for taking photos of him, he is seen deleting photos taken at the scene from his phone. Tam repeatedly asks the man about his identity and the man denies that he is a police officer. When Tam makes a phone call to the police, the man makes a run for it and the video ends with Tam chasing after him. The lawmaker said the men had probably followed him to document his whereabouts and collect information. He also said the incident might be related to the pending national security law and the upcoming Legislative Council elections in September, adding that he would not rule out any possibilities. The city’s senior officials have emphasised that the proposed national security law, which will ban secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in Hong Kong, would protect the people of Hong Kong and that Western democracies had enacted similar security laws. However, Tam hit back with criticisms saying that the law did not make people feel safe. “Not one Hong Konger would say they are absolutely safe,” Tam said, adding that he worries he would be kidnapped or that something bad would happen to him in the future. In 2017, the Financial Times reported that mainland-born billionaire Xiao Jianhua was abducted by mainland Chinese public security agents from a Hong Kong hotel — mainland Chinese law enforcement units and agents are forbidden to operate in the city under Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution. Tam added that he first felt he was being followed since last week when the meetings were held at the Legislative Council over whether to pass a controversial bill that makes insulting China’s national anthem a criminal offence. He however decided to shrug it off as he thought they were plainclothes police. Fellow Civic Party member and lawmaker Alvin Yeung said there was already an atmosphere of fear growing even though the national security law had yet to be implemented. He worried that in the near future, not only politicians and activists, but also members of the general public could face similar situations. Separately, lawmaker Raymond Chan and district councillor Tiffany Yuen also posted on Facebook that they had similar experiences of being followed.

‘Hong Kongers are no longer absolutely safe’ says pro-democracy lawmaker 

Hong Kong police's paramilitary riot control unit may be armed with newer and more powerful pepper spray guns, according to a Hong Kong Free Press report.

The guns could be potentially lethal if used on people with respiratory illness, a doctor told Apple Daily. Piexon, a Swiss manufacturer of less-lethal munitions that specializes in liquid irritant launchers, is reportedly selling its most advanced and expensive model to the city's police force. The Piexon JPX6 Jet Protector fires a patented Piexol 400kS irritant, which is described as "a cayenne pepper extract and the most potent pepper-based irritant on the market", according to Piexon. Each cartridge carries 10ml of Piexol, meaning that a fully loaded JPX6 carries 40ml of irritant. The irritant can cause temporary blindness, coughing and nausea that last at least 45 minutes before these effects start to fade, according to Piexon. Paul Au, a doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières, told Apple Daily that exposure to such irritants for three to five minutes alone may trigger asthma attacks or be lethal for someone with underlying respiratory illness. Temporary blindness for such a period could also put them in life-threatening situations if they get caught up in chaotic protests, he added. The new pepper spray tool is capable of firing irritants at a speed of 80 meters per second and unlikely to be blown off course by heavy wind. It has a minimum safety distance of 1.5 meters, and a maximum effective range of seven meters. Local media earlier reported that the police's elite Special Tactical Squad, known as raptors, could be given the new pepper spray pistols by the end of this month. Demosistō, a pro-democracy political group co-founded by activist Joshua Wong, has started an online petition to demand the Swiss government to ban the sale of such weapons to Hong Kong. The petition has collected almost 58,000 signatures as of Saturday evening. The Hong Kong Police Force has yet to respond to Apple Daily's request for comment.

Hong Kong police may be given more powerful and potentially lethal pepper spray guns

The rapid rise and fall of Han Kuo-yu, who will soon be removed as mayor of Taiwan's third-largest city, may well be the last radiance of the setting sun for his century-old party Kuomintang (KMT) which once ruled much of China and shaped post-war Taiwan. KMT insiders told Apple Daily that many in the party regret wasting their best chance to regain power by picking Han as the presidential candidate last year. The KMT until last summer looked set to win the 2020 presidential election when the incumbent pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was unpopular for failing to boost the island's stagnant economy. But Han's presidential bid ended in a huge defeat, winning just 38% of the votes while the incumbent Tsai Ing-wen from the DPP bagged 57%. In Saturday's recall vote in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, where Han has served as mayor for 18 months, Han was voted out by an even bigger landslide number with 97.4% of voters hoping to expel him from office. The 939,090 votes for his removal even exceeded the 892,545 votes Han got when he was elected.. In response to the recall vote's result, KMT chairperson Johnny Chiang said his party respected the people's decision and that the KMT would not be absent in the upcoming by-election for the new mayor. Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Media which has a major presence in the Taiwan media scene, also called Han's rise to power as "KMT's last hurrah". "Han’s fall marks the end of KMT’s influence, as well as the influence of its half brother #CCP. #HKers and Taiwanese support each other!" Lai tweeted on Saturday evening.

In the span of two years, Han’s rise in popularity has been as swift as his downfall. Branded as the sole savior for his party by managing to snag the post as mayor in a city traditionally known as a DPP stronghold, those voters then deserted him, dealing a lethal blow to a party that has already been struggling to survive. In retrospect, pundits seem to agree that Han's fall from grace was triggered by the moment when he announced last October, just months into his mayorship, that he would take three months off from the city government to run for president. Many swing voters, particularly the young, were put off by what they saw as Han's overtly nationalistic narrative that embraces the "one China" notion and his sometimes vulgar remarks. This further entrenches the image many Taiwanese have in mind that KMT has become a party that has lost touch with its people. Despite having harped on about bringing real reform for decades, some have started to realise that those were all but empty promises.

Analysis: Taiwan's ousting of pro-China mayor may spell demise of the island's major opposition

Beijing’s U-turn in its policy to encourage the unemployed to become street vendors may signal a deepening rift between China's paramount leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, sources told the Apple Daily. The Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party on Thursday reportedly instructed state media at central government level to stop mentioning "street vendor economy" in their reports as the reference embarrasses the Chinese leadership. Sources have confirmed to Apple Daily that Chinese state media did receive such instructions and that the development indicated the struggle between Xi and Li for control over the economy had intensified.

Li, in a recent visit to the province of Shandong, promoted the policy as a way to boost the economy at a time when millions have lost jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic. Li said the makeshift open-air street stalls were "important sources of jobs." While China's official unemployment rate hovered around 6% between February to April, a Chinese brokerage firm in April was forced to retract an analyst report that estimated the actual figure to be over 20%.

Many parts across China since then have taken a much more lenient approach to street vendors. The policy marked a departure from Beijing’s previous efforts since 2017 to “clean up” the city’s image by kicking out street vendors. But Beijing also worries about the implications of a growing "street vendor economy" on China's financial system, a source said, pointing to a scenario where many of those who have borrowed from banks to set up physical shops would fail to repay their debts should they face stiff competition from street vendors. "Coming from the Communist Youth League faction, Li doesn't understand how the economy works," the same source said. "Nowadays most people shop online in China. Who would still go to open-air stalls?" Wu Qiang, an independent political scholar in China, told Apple Daily that Li has been advocating greater economic freedom for individuals and a freer market since he became premier in 2013. Xi, on the contrary, has been eager to increase the state's control over the economy. "The conflict [between the two] has been intensifying over the past eight years and now this row over street vendors exposes it," Wu said.

Li also surprised many when he revealed during China's annual parliamentary session last month that around 600 million people in China earn a monthly income of just 1,000 yuan (US$140). His comments came as a contrast to Xi’s top priority and goal set years back to eradicate poverty by 2020.

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