WATCH: In Conversation with Benedict Rogers. New episode with Emily Lau
We are honoured to have Emily Lau, former Hong Kong legislator and an influential politician who, for years, fought for the rights for BNO passport holders in Hong Kong before the UK government announced the recent BNO Visa policy. She also is instrumental in communicating with the UK government and the British Consulate in Hong Kong regarding the BNO policy.
When asked by Ben what keeps her fighting for Hong Kong. Emily said it’s her positive attitude. She said: “Things could go worse, but I’ll continue to do what I can and my best until I’m shut up”.
On the sacking of i-Cable staff that took place this week in Hong Kong, as a former journalist before entering her political career, Emily expressed her respect and praised the bravery of the journalists in Hong Kong and their top-notch reporting even in tough working conditions and under tremendous pressure.
Emily described the recent scene within the LegCo in Hong Kong is terrible, she said: “I was a legislator for 25 years, I was able to work with government officials and pro-Bejing legislators, we were even able to form a coalition of eight political parties. But now, the members kept telling me that legislators don’t even talk to those on the other side, the relationship doesn’t exist. There’s no way they can talk to each other, they are deadly enemies. My worry is that there may not be election in September 2021. They [the Hong Kong government] are now working on local legislation about disqualification, it could be applied to district council members, civil servants who now have to take the oath, and to judges. It’s a very handy tool for the power to target their enemies. The last thing we want to see is the disqualifications of judges”.
On the possibility of British judges withdrawing from Hong Kong, Emily said: “If the UK judges leave, then the Canadian and Australian judges will too. The final nail of the coffin will be the judges withdrawing from Hong Kong”.
Towards to end of the interview, Emily expressed her wish that the new US president and international community to be successful in persuading China to accept and follow the behaviour of the civilised world. She said: “It is not a Western thing because Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan and South Korea also follow that. We, in Hong Kong, are on the forefront of this battle, some of us will sacrifice, we hope not, but we will use every breath and our bodies to fight for Hong Kong and a more democratic China”.
