Reflections at a critical juncture - marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover with Lord Patten

On 1 July 2022, Hong Kong Watch hosted an event to mark the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover with Lord Patten, Hong Kong Watch’s patron and the Last Governor of Hong Kong. About 400 participants attended the event.

In his speech, Lord Patten, cited East German history in which totalitarian governments fell in an instant. Lord Patten said that John Lee does not care about Hong Kong's economy, social reform, education or health services. He was selected because he had suppressed peaceful demonstrations with an iron fist. The so-called "patriots ruling Hong Kong" means to love the Chinese Communist Party.

He said that the "Communist stooges" has rewritten Hong Kong's history in textbooks, saying that Hong Kong was not a colony but was occupied by Britain, but in fact it was refugees from mainland China who had fled the Great Leap Forward, the Great Famine and the Cultural Revolution who had "occupied" Hong Kong.

Lord Patten said that the spirit of resistance shown by the Hongkongers in 2019 should be learnt from. If we want to change the future of Hong Kong, we must be brave to stand up and defend it. He said that Hongkongers had made a great city and one day, Hong Kong will be great again and have the freedom it deserves.

Lord Patten’s new book, ‘The Hong Kong Diaries’, has been published recently. Lord Patten kindly signed copies of his book for supporters at the event.