Monthly Archives: March 2022

The Lady Justice statue stands atop the Final Court of Appeal in Hong Kong after a ceremony to mark the opening of the legal year on Jan. 24, 2022 in Hong Kong. Anthony Kwan/Getty Images hide caption

The Lady Justice statue stands atop the Final Court of Appeal in Hong Kong after a ceremony to mark the opening of the legal year on Jan. 24, 2022 in Hong Kong.

LONDON Britain said Wednesday that it is withdrawing its judges from Hong Kong's top court because keeping them there would legitimize oppression in the former British colony.

British judges have sat on the court since Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997. The British government's move underscores the Asian financial hub's growing isolation as the ruling Chinese Communist Party works to assert its control and silence independent voices.

While the U.K. had judges serving on the Court of Final Appeal as part of efforts to safeguard the rule of law in the city, the British government said it was "no longer tenable" because of increasingly oppressive laws enacted by China. The two senior British judges on the court submitted their resignations with immediate effect Wednesday.

"The courts in Hong Kong continue to be internationally respected for their commitment to the rule of law," U.K. Supreme Court President Robert Reed said after his resignation from the Hong Kong court. "Nevertheless, I have concluded, in agreement with the government, that the judges of the Supreme Court cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression."

Fourteen non-permanent judges remain at the Hong Kong court, including 10 from other common law jurisdictions such as Australia and Canada.

China has intensified its crackdown on Hong Kong's semi-autonomous political and legal institutions in recent years. Those efforts include passage of a sweeping national security law in 2020 and changes to the electoral system that have effectively ended political opposition in the territory.

The security law, which outlaws secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion, has been used to arrest more than 100 pro-democracy figures, and many others have fled abroad. Since the law's introduction, Hong Kong police have raided the offices of pro-democracy media, shutting them down and arresting journalists.

Lawmakers, students and the organizers of candlelit memorials marking Communist Party's deadly 1989 crackdown on a pro-democracy movement have also been targeted.

Some Western governments and the United Nations say the security law is eroding the autonomy promised when the city was transferred back to China under the "one country, two systems" principle.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the two U.K. judges had "concluded that the constraints of the national security law make it impossible for them to continue to serve in the way that they would want."

"I appreciate and I understand their decision," he said.

In announcing the move, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said there had been "a systematic erosion of liberty and democracy in Hong Kong."

"The situation has reached a tipping point where it is no longer tenable for British judges to sit on Hong Kong's leading court, and would risk legitimizing oppression," she said.

The decision to pull British judges out after many years in Hong Kong was welcomed by British lawmakers. A senior Conservative Party member of Parliament, Tom Tugendhat, said British judges should not help empower "a legal system that is now being used to lock up Hongkongers without due process."

Conservative lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith, a longtime critic of the government in Beijing, said "the government has done the right thing here, and not a minute too soon."

"What Ukraine teaches us is that you simply cannot appease totalitarian states or make excuses for their behavior, which is exactly what the presence of our judges (was) doing in Hong Kong,'' Duncan Smith said. "They were lending legitimacy to a regime hell-bent on undermining our way of life."

The Hong Kong Bar Association called the decision "a matter of deep regret." It appealed to the Court of Final Appeal's remaining overseas judges to stay and serve the city, and help uphold its judicial independence.

Read this article:

Britain withdraws its judges from Hong Kong's top court - NPR

Updated 10 hours ago

THE GOVERNMENT PARTIES have voted against a private members bill calling for a referendum on Irelands neutrality to be held.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said his party are seeking a referendum on the insertion of neutrality into the Constitution.

There were 67 votes for the proposal and 53 against, with no abstentions.

Many people believe that Irelands neutrality is protected in the Constitution because there is a long understanding and overwhelming support for the idea that Ireland should be neutral but, in fact, that neutrality is not protected in the Constitution, and we believe it is seriously under attack, he told the Dil earlier today, ahead of the vote.

He said the Government and the wider European political establishment are seeking to exploit the crisis in Ukraine to justify moving towards greater EU militarisation, the establishment of a European army, and closer alignment with NATO.

The Green Party just had the decisive vote on whether we have a referendum to insert neutrality into the Constitution.

They used it to vote against their own policy which Eamon Ryan has voted for three times before in the Dil, supporting the militarists of FFFG.

Shame pic.twitter.com/LKgcS879qj

A betrayal

Irelands neutrality and the struggle for an independent Irish republic are one and the same, they always have been. To move away from Irelands neutrality is not just some sort of interesting tactical or strategic choice. It is in fact a betrayal of the essential struggle to establish an independent republic, he said.

Neutrality does not mean indifference. Neutrality means standing against warmongers and empires and standing with the oppressed. If we throw that away, we will throw away what is the identity that was the struggle for the Irish Republic, and we will do so at our peril. We should not do that and I hope the House will support the Bill, he told the Dil.

TD Paul Murphy hit out at Fine Gaels position on neutrality over the years, telling the Dl that in 2003, Fine Gael proposed a policy document called Beyond Neutrality.

Murphy claims this was a move towards participation in a common EU defence policy and abandoning the so-called triple-lock mechanism.

Let us not kid ourselves that this latest push to fully undermine and get rid of this political straitjacket and to undermine neutrality is a mere pragmatic response to the war in Ukraine, he said.

Murphy said that NATO is being rebranded as some sort of peace force as if it was simply the neutral teacher on the playground stopping the bullies.

Tell that to the ordinary people of Afghanistan whose country was invaded and occupied by NATO for years. Who gave NATO or the US the right to consider themselves the world police? he asked.

The Green Party position

Murphy also questioned the Green Party on its stance, stating that the party leader, Eamon Ryan, has voted to enshrine neutrality in the Constitution on three previous occasions in 2003, 2016 and 2018.

The question of neutrality is very clearly in the Green Party manifesto, he pointed out.

Pictured are protestors, including Sinn Fein's defence spokesperson John Brady, at a demonstration organised by People Before Profit-Solidarity outside Leinster House this evening, calling for Ireland to remain neutral in the Russian Ukraine conflict. Source: Leah Farrell

In response, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney told the Dil that Irelands neutrality has never stopped us participating in world events nor, self-evidently, from being affected by them.

It does not mean that we are inactive in situations where we see flagrant breaches of the UN charter and clear violations of international law, including international humanitarian law, said the minister.

The Bill would likely to curtail Irelands efforts to contribute to international peace and security, rather than in any way enhance it, said Coveney.

He said the Bill also purports to provide constitutional guarantees that the State shall not allow its territory to be used by other states to transport war material or personnel to third countries for the purpose of war or other armed conflict.

Everyone in this House already knows that foreign state and military aircraft that are permitted to land at Irish airports, including Shannon Airport, must comply with strict conditions. These include routine stipulations that the aircraft must be unarmed, carry no arms, ammunition or explosives, and must not engage in intelligence gathering, said Coveney.

Pull the other one

Yeah, right, replied People Before Profits Mick Barry, before telling the minister to pull the other one.

Labours Brendan Howlin said Ireland should remain neutral and not be aligned to any military pact. However, he said Ireland is enthusiastic to use its vast experience in peacekeeping, peacemaking, humanitarian efforts and in soft international power.

He said Ireland is in a unique position where it is seen internationally as honest brokers that are not involved in armed oppression but there to bring peace, diplomacy and relief to those who are oppressed.

The Government has stated that it is opposing the Bill, calling it unnecessary.

#Open journalism No news is bad news Support The Journal

Your contributions will help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you

Irelands policy of military neutrality as practised by successive Governments means that we do not participate in military or common or mutual defence arrangements.

There is no need to insert a Constitutional provision, which could constrain the Governments scope to respond flexibly and effectively in urgent circumstances.

Any discussion of Irelands approach to security and defence should take place in an open and evidence-based way, and at an appropriate time, said a Government spokesperson.

Inserting provisions into the Constitution would close that conversation off.

The provisions seem designed to also preclude contributing to even medical supplies, food rations or protective equipment via the European Peace Facility, to partners such as the African Union or Ukraine.

Wemay well need to have a fresh conversation about our approach to security and defence. This Bill obstructs rather than facilitates such a conversation, which should beopen and evidence-based way, and at an appropriate time, it said.

Continue reading here:

Government parties vote against bill calling for a referendum on Ireland's neutrality - TheJournal.ie

Salih Hudayar talks to the Taipei Times about the war in Ukraine, its impact on the ongoing genocide in his homeland and how Taiwan can work with his government in exile

By Mark Buckton / Contributing reporter

When Salih Hudayar was born in the small city of Artux, East Turkestan, in May, 1993, the land of his birth had been under Chinese control for 44 years.

A Uighur by birth, Hudayar was just seven years old when he and his family moved to the US in 2000, arriving as political refugees before settling in Oklahoma, where he went to school and eventually joined the US Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Always aware of his background and family heritage, however, in 2017 Hudayar established the East Turkestan National Awakening Movement, and within 12 months was meeting members of the US Congress to promote awareness of Chinas oppression of Uighur people.

Photo courtesy of Salih Hudayar

GENOCIDE IN XINJIANG

His reference to a genocide being carried out against his people in 2018 is now a commonly accepted term for Chinas treatment of millions of predominantly Muslim Uighurs and other Turkic peoples across East Turkestan an area Beijing refers to as Xinjiang.

In late 2019, as an increasingly prominent figure in the push for East Turkestan independence, Hudayar was elected prime minister of his nations government-in-exile, and early last year, the term genocide was echoed by former US secretary of state and recent visitor to Taiwan Mike Pompeo, who said I have determined that the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), under the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang.

Photo courtesy of Salih Hudayar

He added that the world is witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese party-state.

A few days ago Prime Minister Hudayar, one of the worlds best known faces of the Uighur cause, spoke with the Taipei Times.

Hudayar last year said that world leaders have largely ignored the genocide in East Turkestan, choosing profits over humanity. Have conditions improved? Not much has changed, he says.

Photo courtesy of Salih Hudayar

The Trump Administration formally recognized Chinas atrocities as genocide and this has carried on into the Biden Administration with nations in Europe including the UK, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Belgium and France formally recognizing the same. However, not much has been done beyond that, Hudayar says.

In recent weeks Russian aggression against Ukraine has taken attention away from the Chinese genocide against the Uighurs.

The US and Western governments, he says, are almost belittling themselves, begging China to step in and apply pressure on Russia.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping () on March 18 told US President Joe Biden that the US must oppose Taiwan independence and not interfere in issues such as Tibet and Xinjiang.

This has had a negative impact on our struggle because the international community no longer seems to be willing to apply pressure on China because of the conflict in Ukraine, Hudayar says.

But, he adds, this isnt about race or religion, a common claim made by the international media. Instead, the free world being more impacted by the actions Russia will take in Ukraine due to geographical location, whereas in East Turkestan, Taiwan and Tibet, were thousands of miles away from Europe or the US.

DOUBLE STANDARD

The world has completely or largely forgotten, given the fact that it is now eight years since China initiated its campaign of genocide and mass internment in East Turkestan, yet you dont see governments doing anything significant to punish China, or to uphold their obligations under the UN Genocide Convention, whereas with the Russian invasion of Ukraine you see this double standard, Hudayar says.

Immediately you have Western governments applying sanctions, hundreds of western companies leaving Russia and governments urging the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) to investigate Russia although no such moves have been made to support the people of East Turkestan, who launched their own ICC case in mid-2020, he adds.

No government has formally stepped up to urge the ICC to investigate Chinese officials for genocide, he says, adding that the international community in this regard are remaining silent.

Hudayar also commented on Taiwans approach to the Uighur and Turkic peoples cause, with Taipei increasingly vocal in its condemnation of the Russian invasion in recent weeks, despite being largely silent on the genocide in East Turkestan.

There have been people in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and other party members who have spoken out against Chinas genocide, but on an official level the government has been relatively quiet, Hudayar says.

He also noted the large number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters in Taiwan who still officially view East Turkestan, Tibet and Mongolia as part of China.

We fully support Taiwanese independence and we support the people of Taiwan, he says. We believe that [Taiwan is] already an independent and free nation. This is something they need to formally step up, and declare, whether there are protests from China or not.

However, we have the same common enemy, he adds. Its crucial that we work together in as many ways as we can to cooperate and give each other mutual recognition and support in any way so we can to stand up against the PRC and the threat of the CCP.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

See the original post here:

The double standard on Russia and Xinjiang -