Mon August, 2020, Age: 3 years
Hong Kong police issued an arrest warrant for six activists, including a U.S. citizen, who have been involved in pro-democracy protests and are suspected of violating the new Hong Kong national security law. Samuel Chu has been an American citizen for 25 years, and is currently acting as the managing director of the DC-based Hong Kong Democracy Council. While the warrant functions mostly as a symbolic gesture against some of the regime’s strongest dissidents, who have been effective at shoring up support against China’s activities in Hong Kong internationally, it brings to mind the Chinese government’s illegal kidnapping and detainment of Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai. News of Gui’s sentencing to 10 years imprisonment for “illegally providing intelligence overseas” sparked a diplomatic incident with Sweden earlier this year. Gui’s detention in 2015 has served as a reminder that China is willing to disregard other states’ sovereignty in the pursuit of protecting its own national interests.
