On 1 July 1997, Hong Kong was handed over to China. 

On 1 July 2020, the Chinese Communist Party regime imposed a new draconian National Security Law on Hong Kong, destroying the city’s freedoms and autonomy. 

To mark the 24th anniversary of the handover, and the first anniversary of the imposition of the National Security Law, Hong Kong Watch is hosting a webinar with a distinguished panel to look at the challenges that have arisen in Hong Kong since the handover, the broken promises, the international response and what the future holds.

We will be joined by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who served as UK Foreign Secretary for two years in the lead-up to the handover, activist Ray Wong, who was the first Hong Konger to claim asylum abroad, Hong Kong-born Canadian Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan, and United States Congressman Chris Smith, a leading voice on human rights in the US Congress and a former Chair of the US Congressional Executive Commission on China.

Join us at 15.00 hours UK time (10.00am EST, 22.00 Hong Kong time) on Thursday 1 July 2021.

Sir Malcolm Rifkind served as UK Foreign Secretary from 1995-1997 and Defence Secretary from 1992-1995 in the Cabinet of the Sir John Major, and previously served in Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet. He was Conservative MP for Edinburgh Pentlands from 1974-1997 and Kensington and Chelsea from 2005-2015. He is a Patron of Hong Kong Watch.

Jenny Kwan MP was elected as a Member of the House of Commons of Canada in 2015, representing the New Democratic Party (NDP). Born in Hong Kong, her family emigrated to Canada when she was nine years old. At the age of 26 she was elected as the youngest-ever member of the Vancouver City Council, and then served for 20 years in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia before being elected to the Canadian Parliament.

Ray Wong is a Hong Kong activist in exile. After the Umbrella Revolution in 2014, he founded the political party Hong Kong Indigenous, whose slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times” became one of the main slogans of the 2019 anti-extradition law movement. In 2017 he left Hong Kong and in 2018 became the first refugee from the city, recognized by the German Federal government.

Congressman Chris Smith has served as a Republican Member of the United States House of Representatives since 1980, representing New Jersey’s 4th District. A leading voice for human rights in the United States Congress, Congressman Smith has previously served twice as Chairman of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Operations.