Hong Kong activists arrested in China show of force

China has stepped up its crackdown on Hong Kong with the ­arrest of more than 50 anti-government politicians and activists.

Pro-democracy activist Ben Chung, centre, is led away by security personnel during the crackdown in Hong Kong. Picture: AFP

China has stepped up its crackdown on Hong Kong with the ­arrest of more than 50 anti-­government politicians and activists — the largest daily arrests under a tough national security law imposed by Beijing last year.

The mass crackdown included raids across the city on law firms, media organisations and the home of dissident critics and followed the high-profile arrests of Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai and activist Joshua Wong.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australian diplomats in the city were “monitoring these developments closely” and described the arrests as “concerning … Australia has consistently expressed concern that the Nat­ional Security Law is eroding Hong Kong’s autonomy, democratic principles and rule of law.”

The introduction of the new laws in Hong Kong led Scott Morrison to suspend an extradition treaty with the city and introduce a faster path to Australian residency for nationals who already had skilled and graduate visas.

Home Affairs Department figures obtained by The Australian show 2584 Hong Kong passport holders have had their visas extended — for five years — under these arrangements.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic largely shutting down migration and international travel, those figures also show 440 applications for graduate visas had been lodged by Hong Kong passport holders to December 11.

Of those, 396 had been granted, along with 125 of 133 temporary skilled visa applications lodged in that time.

Those arrested in Hong Kong on Wednesday included former politicians, academics and ­solicitors.

Antony Blinken, Joe Biden’s proposed secretary of state, immediately condemned the move as an “assault on those bravely ­advocating for universal rights”, a response that paves the way for a tense start to the relationship ­between Beijing and the incoming administration in Washington. The mass arrests are believed to be largely centred on people involved in an independent run-off for candidates for last year’s Legislative Council elections, elections that were postponed ­ostensibly because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The raids included the first ­arrest of a US citizen under the new national security law, John Clancey, a lawyer with Ho Tse Wai and Partners who chairs the Asian Human Rights ­Commission, on suspicion of “subversion”.

Ho Tse Wai’s offices were also searched by police on Wednesday and one of its partners, Albert Ho, a former Hong Kong politician, was among those arrested.

Others arrested under the new security law, which came into force last June, were veteran pro-democracy politicians including James To, Andrew Wan and Lam Cheuk Ting, alongside younger government critics Gwyneth Ho and Benny Tai, a key figure in Hong Kong’s Occupy Central protests in 2014.

The latest series of raids is part of moves by China to stamp out opposition to its role in the city, which is supposed to operate semi-autonomously until 2047, 50 years after it was handed back to China by Britain.

China, however, moved to impose tough new security laws following a year of demonstrations in 2019, sparked by a proposed law to allow extraditions from Hong Kong to China.

While Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam later withdrew the proposed law, the demonstrations continued for months.

Hong Kong Police Senior Superintendent Steve Li Kwai-wah, speaking to reporters, said 53 people had been arrested in an ­operation that involved 1000 ­officers. Six arrests were made on the suspicion of subverting state power by organising primary elections in an alleged ­attempt to paralyse the government.

Others arrested were detained for allegedly taking part, Superintendent Li said.

He said some $HK1.6m ($265,000) had also been seized.

The South China Morning Post reported that police had served search warrants on the ­offices of the Apple Daily tabloid and Stand News, an online news portal, seeking “documents in connection with national security cases”.

More than 600,000 Hongkongers turned out to vote in the unofficial primary, which was aimed at winning all 35 elected seats in the council, Hong Kong’s parliament, and take a majority in the 70- seat legislature for the first time.

Beijing officials warned at the time that campaigning to win a majority constituted “subversion” under the new security law.

In recent months, prominent democracy supporters in Hong Kong have been arrested, jailed, barred from politics or have fled overseas.

Some have had their assets frozen, or families locked out of bank accounts.

Washington has sanctioned key officials because of the security law, including Ms Lam. Beijing has defended the law as a necessary measure to restore stability.