Hong Kong civil society organisations urge Chancellor Scholz to raise concerns about Article 23 and human rights in Hong Kong during visit to Beijing

Today and tomorrow, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German business representatives will meet with top Chinese officials in Beijing.

Hong Kong Watch and EU-based Hong Kong civil society organisations have signed a joint statement urging Chancellor Scholz to “raise concerns about the enactment of the Safeguarding National Security Bill in Hong Kong and its incompatibility with international human rights standards, and to echo Germany’s recommendation at the United Nations for the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to ‘restore full respect for the rule of law and civil society and political rights in Hong Kong’ during his visit to Beijing.”

Chancellor Scholz’s visit follows the passage of the Safeguarding National Security Bill in Hong Kong on 19 March 2024, which was enacted under ‘Article 23’ of Hong Kong’s de facto constitution, the Basic Law. Article 23 prohibits seven types of activities which the Hong Kong officials intend to declare ‘offences’, under vague provisions which criminalise the peaceful exercise of rights and freedoms which are protected under international law. Article 23 undermines due process and fair trial rights and violates Hong Kong’s obligations under international human rights law, jeopardising Hong Kong’s role as an open international city. 

In the statement, the organisations urge Chancellor Scholz, individually and with business representatives, to publicly oppose the implementation of Article 23 and to uphold the objective in Germany’s Strategy on China which requires that Germany “must not remain silent on grave violations of human rights or breaches of the rules-based international order”.

They call on Chancellor Scholz to “introduce measures to protect the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people in exile from Beijing’s long-arm of transnational repression, including introducing a lifeboat scheme to make it easier for Hong Kongers in need of a lifeline to claim asylum in Germany.” They also state that the German government should review the status, privileges, and immunities of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in Berlin. 

Last week, Freiheit für Hongkong e.V. organised a press conference in Berlin and sent a joint letter to Chancellor Scholz, together with the World Uyghur Congress, Tibet Initiative Germany, the Society for Threatened Peoples, and the International Campaign for Tibet, to highlight the need for Chancellor Scholz to express serious concerns about the declining human rights situations in Hong Kong, Tibet, East Turkistan, Southern Mongolia, and China itself during his visit to China. 

Chancellor Scholz last visited China in November 2022, becoming the first Group of Seven (G7) leader to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping after the COVID-19 pandemic. Chancellor Scholz and Xi Jinping also met online in November 2023, when they discussed the improvement of German-China relations despite EU efforts to reduce its dependence on the Chinese economy.

The full statement is available here.

德國總理訪華 香港監察與香港民間組織聯署促請關注23條及香港人權狀況

德國總理朔爾茨（Olaf Scholz）今明兩日率領商界代表團訪問中國，期間將會見中國高官。

香港監察聯同歐盟香港民間組織簽署聯合聲明，促請朔爾茨「在訪華期間，就香港實行《維護國家安全條例》（俗稱23條）而條例不符合國際人權準則提出憂慮，並響應德國在聯合國普遍定期審議上向中國政府提出的建議，即『恢復對香港法治、公民社會和政治權利的充分尊重』。」

聯署組織在聲明中促請朔爾茨獨自及聯同商界代表公開反對實施23條，堅守德國在《對華策略》所列的目標，要求德國「不得對嚴重侵犯人權或違反以規則為基礎國際秩序的行為保持沉默」。

組織呼籲朔爾茨「推行措施保障流亡香港人的權利和自由，免受北京跨國鎮壓的長臂管轄，包括推出救生艇計劃，讓需要救生路線的香港人更容易在德國申請政治庇護。」組織同時表示，德國政府應檢視香港駐柏林經濟貿易辦事處的地位、特權和豁免權。

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