Editor's note: WorldNetDaily.com international correspondent Anthony C. LoBaido, a former teacher in Hong Kong, has filed several exclusive stories from there, including his insider report on the shadowy Hong Kong Blondes computer hacking group. In this report, LoBaido documents how the Hong Kong Democratic Alliance -- the top pro-democracy group left in Hong Kong -- faces an uncertain future in the wake of China's increasingly heavy-handed crackdown on dissent.
HONG KONG -- A resolute, pro-democracy organization in Hong Kong is working tirelessly to promote freedom on the island, memorializing those who died promoting democracy and striving towards a seemingly impossible goal -- the establishment of a free China.
Near the TST subway station in the heart of Hong Kong, an interloper will pass by the finest museums, planetariums and shopping malls of the British colonial era. There are restaurants and spectacular views of the harbor. Money is king in Hong Kong. In fact, it is god. Fortunes are made and lost on a daily basis. China's COSCO shipping company sends its products to the four corners of the earth from the aforementioned harbor. People travel to and fro with an energy that is scarcely believable to the new arrival. Yet, there are some who are not too busy shopping or making money to see that all is not well, as Hong Kong enters the new millennium.
Tracey Kinchen is a British national and former MI-6 (British intelligence) field agent who grew up in Hong Kong.
"All seems normal in Hong Kong. I love it here. I enjoy the rains of the fall, which wash away the heat of the summer. I even love it during the oppressively humid months of July and August, when Hong Kong becomes a living hell. Yet underneath this appearance of 'normalcy,' there are blood-soaked storm clouds emerging on the horizon. For you must remember that Hong Kong is a place where Christianity, democracy and freedom exist in the collective spirit and recent memory of the citizenry. Now those cherished notions are increasingly under attack," she told WorldNetDaily. Kinchen was a part of the anti-China Hong Kong Blondes computer hackers before launching her own Laurie Holden Hackers, now based in Thailand.
"Several years after the British handover of Hong Kong and China's accession into permanent World Trade Organization status, the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong has its feet to the fire. And life may well become a living hell for those who dare raise their voices against the dictators in Beijing. You see, the Internet is not changing China, nor is trade. The West is not changing China. China is changing us. The minute we joined up with the global economic trading system, we threw away all of our traditional values," Kinchen explained.
The point man for freedom on Hong Kong is Ho Pak Yan, the editor of the China Key and head of the Hong Kong Alliance. The Alliance is the leading group among democrats in Hong Kong. It organizes the candlelight vigil for the memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre every year.
"As you can imagine, the Alliance is not frightfully popular with the dictators in Beijing, hence they may get caught up in this Section 23 (a pending Hong Kong law on 'subversion and sedition') business," said Kinchen. "Ho Pak Yan is an awfully good man, a great man, and I admire him so much. If you cherish freedom and democracy in Hong Kong, then you must support the Alliance."
In an exclusive interview with WorldNetDaily, Ho explained how his movement began.
"The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Democratic Patriotic Movements in China was formed in May of 1989. It is an umbrella organization that brought together representatives of more than 200 local groups (including labor, religious, political and community-based organizations). As Hong Kong's largest grass-roots pro-democracy organization, the HK Alliance coordinates the movement locally through activism and mobilization. We seek to promote freedom and democracy in China by bringing together those who share this vision," he said.
What are HK Alliance's goals and activities?
"Since its inception, the Hong Kong Alliance has striven to accomplish the following five goals: the release of pro-democracy activists and dissidents imprisoned in China; accountability for those who committed the atrocities in 1989; to rehabilitate the 1989 pro-democracy movement; end the one-party dictatorship; and build a democratic China. On three occasions, over one million Hong Kong people took to the streets, expressing their support of the student activists and decrying their brutal suppression."
The activities of the Hong Kong Alliance have become a part of the fabric of the anti-communist resistance movement on the island.
"Every year, we organize a candlelight vigil commemorating June 4, and tens of thousands of people come out to show that they will not forget June 4. We also organize protests and demonstrations against human-rights abuses by the one-party dictatorship in Beijing. It is a public manifestation to the [Special Administrative Region] government and the central authority in Beijing that Hong Kong people still support the democracy movement in China. If there is any suppression of our rights and civil liberties in Hong Kong, the Alliance will be the first to face it," added Ho.
"If we can persevere with our position and activities, at least we are defending Hong Kong's freedom. Today, within Chinese territory, Hong Kong is the only place that can commemorate the June 4 massacre openly and in a large scale. The event will have an impact on China as a whole. It reinforces the hope of democracy in China. This is very important. To actually get involved in the mechanism of the movement in the mainland is out of our ability. The stamina and progress of democracy in Hong Kong will form a catalyst to set off changes in China. We are the conscience of Hong Kong. We will not rest until there is a democratic and free China."
Asked why the communist regime in China opposes the Hong Kong Alliance, Ho said: "The HK Alliance is a constant reminder of the sincere depth of support in Hong Kong for what the authorities in Beijing still consider a 'counter-revolutionary rebellion.' Beijing has branded the HK Alliance 'subversive' and has repeatedly refused many of its leaders entry to mainland China."
The Alliance does not receive any overseas help from the United Kingdom or the United States.
"We are not connected with any overseas organizations. The Alliance insists on our independence. We are a Hong Kong organization," Ho said.
Ho is assisted, however, in part by his liaison in America, Brian Hooper. A graduate of Washington and Lee University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hooper is now a student at Harvard Law School. He has worked with the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, as well as the Hong Kong Alliance.
"America needs to continue to speak out against Chinese human-rights violations. America needs to be strong and firm," Hooper told WorldNetDaily
Asked about the performance of the Clinton administration in regard to Hong Kong, Hooper said, "In my view, Clinton's policy toward China was somewhat the reverse of what it needed to be. While offering the Chinese substantial concessions, especially in areas of sensitive technology, and taking apparently illegal campaign contributions, the Clinton administration also scapegoated China in certain ways, such as the Wen Ho Lee fiasco. It is also difficult to believe that the embassy bombing was pure accident. The Chinese saw Clinton as servile, but untrustworthy. China will have contempt for America if America is not both honest and open on the one hand and strong and firm on the other."
On Clinton and Loral Corp. giving satellite technology to China, Hooper said, "I don't know too much about this incident, though it would seem to potentially endanger American security. As far as I know, it has not been proven that China spied anywhere or stole anything. I think America's handling of this case played very badly in China and did not improve America's reputation for fair play."
Hooper doesn't believe that China has amibitions to increase its territory.
"Territorial expansion is not a key goal for China," he said. "Economic modernization is the highest priority. However, reunification with Taiwan is one of China's demands. China considers Taiwan an integral part of its territory, and a declaration of independence by Taiwan would surely provoke war. China will not invade Taiwan unless the Republic of China government declares independence. I don't see this event as likely, as most Taiwanese are also in favor of reunification with China, on their own terms."
Kinchen is unwavering about the importance of the Hong Kong Alliance in standing up to communist China.
"China is out of control," she said. "With pro-communist leaders like Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the China-coddling Bush Jr. presidency, Hong Kong is in real trouble. China continues to complain that they never stole any nuclear secrets from America, nor received any technology from Clinton's corporate friends and that they never tried to steal the avionics from the Stealth bomber the Russian Spetnaz shot down in Serbia. But everyone in intelligence circles knows bloody well that those avionics were hidden in the Chinese embassy in Serbia. That is why it was bombed. I mean, you could find the address of the Chinese embassy in the local phone book -- but the NSA and CIA couldn't find it, right? What rubbish!
"Every year, I attend the candlelight vigil in Hong Kong. I say literally it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. And right now, the Hong Kong Alliance is the only light left on the island. If they don't shine, it's going to be dark."
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