Hong Kong Watch Policy Advisor Joey Siu speaks at Press Conference hosted by Senator Rick Scott

On January 24th, Senator Rick Scott of Florida hosted a press conference to highlight the plights of Hongkongers, Uyghurs and all other communities ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Our Policy Advisor Joey Siu was invited to speak alongside the NBA star and human rights advocate Enes Kanter Freedom, Samuel Chu of Campaign for Hong Kong, Elfidar Iltebir of Uyghur American Association and Mustafa Aksu of Uyghur Human Rights Project.

Joey’ speech is as follows,

“Since Hong Kong’s massive pro-democracy protests broke out in 2019, more than ten thousand protesters — the youngest at age 13 — have been arrested, abused, charged, and convicted. Over 750 of them have been found guilty of “rioting,” facing up to ten years in jail simply for taking to the streets and defending Hong Kong’s freedoms.

Since the enactment of the National Security Law on June 30, 2020, over 150 individuals have been charged under ridiculous crimes like “subversion” and “colluding with foreign forces.” From activists and politicians to legal professionals and educators, every dissenter in the city is at risk of facing unreasonable and lengthy prison sentences for being the voice of the now-silenced people of Hong Kong.

Up until today, more than 70 civil society organizations — including political associations, student unions, and protest groups — have been forcibly shut down; many of them have also seen their core members arrested and persecuted.

At least 11 media outlets —including Apple Daily, Stand News, and Citizens News — have ceased operations. Hong Kong’s media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been held behind bars for almost 390 days now and journalists were detained for documenting the CCP’s atrocities and abuses.

Hong Kongers have lost not only our freedom of speech, assembly, and free press. Those who remain in the city also under the fear of being persecuted every single day just for voicing opposition to the government.

China has violated every promise made under the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 to uphold Hong Kong’s basic freedoms, rule of law, and autonomy. And unfortunately, that is not the only international commitment that China has violated.

While crackdowns in Hong Kong escalate, more than a million Uyghur and Turkic Muslims continue to be held in concentration camps. They are undergoing forced sterilization, systematic sexual abuse, forced labor, and political indoctrination. Countless of them — including the retired medical doctor Gulshan Abbas, the sister of Rushan, who is with us today — have been disappeared by the Chinese Communist regime for years.

And just a week ago, in Tibet, Tashi Wangchuk, the prominent language-rights activist who was detained for six years for courageously speaking out against Beijing’s discriminatory language policies again spoke out for his people and now face the risk of another arrest and stronger oppresion.

Where are all these Uyghurs? Where is the brave tennis player Peng Shuai who stood up for herself? Where is Zhang Zhan, the journalist who exposed Wuhan’s situation when the Covid-19 pandemic first began?

With these questions unanswered and our families and friends behind bars, how can anyone still participate in the Olympic Games hosted by a regime who has their hands full of the blood of countless innocent people?

The world cannot continue to sit back in silence. A strong and clear message has to be sent, that the Chinese Communist Party and any of its supporters will not escape from its responsibilities without paying a price. We welcome a diplomatic boycott - but that is far from enough - we need the U.S. to take the lead - to hold the International Olympics Committee accountable for rewarding a genocidal regime with such an important international event, to hold sponsors of the genocidal games who sacrificed human rights for financial gains accountable.

The Chinese Communist Party's authoritarian behavior and repressive policies against Hong Kongers, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and the world cannot be normalized. Any form of participation in the genocide games is equivalent to endorsing its escalating atrocities. And any form of appeasement is no different than allowing China to continue its oppression, or even inviting it into our own backyards.

Enes once said, “All the gold medals in the world aren’t worth selling your morals.” I hope that we, especially our government and policymakers, will always remember this: Nothing is worth sacrificing human rights for, whether in Hong Kong or beyond.”

參議員Rick Scott召開記招譴責中共 香港監察顧問 Joey Siu 邵嵐 受邀發言

美國共和黨參議員Senator Rick Scott於1月24日於參議院辦公大樓召開記者招待會，譴責中共政權持續打壓香港、西藏及維吾爾族人的行為。香港監察顧問Joey Siu邵嵐以及NBA球星Enes Kanter、Campaign for Hong Kong的朱牧民、代表Uyghur American Association 的Elfidar Iltebir以及代表維吾爾人權項目的Mustafa Aksu受邀發言。

邵嵐於發言中提及自「反送中」運動爆發後，超過一萬名抗爭者被捕，當中最少750名面臨刑期長達十年的「暴動罪」指控。而於《國安法》生效後，多過150人因而被捕，當中包括民主派政治人物、傳媒人、法律人士及學生等等，《蘋果日報》創辦人黎智英更因此被監禁將近400日。公民社會也因與日俱增的政治壓力分崩離析，包括 #教協、#職工盟、#民陣 以及各大專院校學生會等超過70個公民團體以及11個媒體平台被迫解散。

她同時指出在中共持續踐踏香港的民主自由的同時，維吾爾族人正面對著「種族滅絕」的折磨、西藏人因捍衛自己的語言及宗教自由被監禁虐待、中國國內的人權倡議者以及世界網球冠軍 #彭帥 和 揭露武漢肺炎爆發初期景況的 #張展 等人依舊下落不明。

她表示：「中共對香港、維吾爾、西藏以及世界的專制行為和鎮壓政策絕對不能被正常化。以任何形式參與 #2022北京冬奧 都等同為中共政權越演越烈的暴行背書；#任何形式的綏靖都無異於默許中國繼續侵犯人權，甚至終將引狼入室，將其引入我們自己的後院。」