Australian Judge Quits Hong Kong Court, Citing National Security Law

Australian Judge Quits Hong Kong Court, Citing National Security Law On September 18, Australia’s national broadcaster reported that one of the 14 foreign judges on Hong Kong’s highest court has resigned due to concerns over a sweeping new national security law imposed by Beijing on the city. The office of the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, confirmed the resignation of Australian judge James Spigelman but did not give a reason. Spigelman, the former chief justice of New South Wales, is the first senior judge to resign and publicly cite the law, passed by the Chinese regime’s rubber-stamp legislature on June 30 without any Hong Kong legislative process or consultation. The Polish-born jurist told the ABC that he had resigned for reasons “related to the content of the national security legislation” but did not elaborate further. Chinese Communist Party Member Gets Deported From U.S. Airport A member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on a tourist visa was denied entry at customs and got deported after arriving at a U.S. airport. When applying to immigrate to the U.S., he was asked if he was a member of the Party. The Global Service Center for Quitting Chinese Communist Party has pointed out that the CCP will soon be dissolved, and those who have joined the CCP and its affiliated organizations should quit as soon as possible to avoid being held accountable for its crimes. Los Angeles legal scholar Zheng Cunzhu posted on Twitter on September 17: “The father of a Chinese American citizen was rejected by the U.S. Consulate when he applied for immigratation to the United States because he was a member of the Communist Party of China. He was refused entry by U.S. Customs when trying to enter the United States at Detroit Airport on a tourist visa. His visa was cancelled and he was deported. The American citizen told Zheng Cunzhu that her father had been told by the U.S. Customs that he "does not meet the entry requirements." U.S. Department of Commerce Bans WeChat and TikTok The U.S. Department of Commerce officially announced that transactions of provisions of service to distribute or maintain WeChat or TikTok through online mobile application stores in the U.S. will be banned. Services through the WeChat mobile application for transferring funds or processing payments within the U.S. will also be banned. Nevertheless, a U.S. company, Oracle Corporation, is still negotiating a TikTok deal with ByteDance. President Trump indicated that a decision will be announced soon, but that U.S. security will not be compromised and the data will be ensured to be safe. In a press release, the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, said that the action of prohibitions on transactions relating to mobile applications (apps) WeChat and TikTok is in response to President Trump’s Executive Orders signed August 6, 2020, to safeguard the national security of the United States. The Department of Commerce indicated that the prohibitions in the order may be lifted by President Trump if the national security concerns posed by TikTok are resolved before November 12. Wife of Human Rights Lawyer Arrested on Her Way to U.S. Embassy Event The wife of a prominent human rights lawyer was abducted by Chinese police on her way to attend an event at the U.S. embassy in Beijing. The diplomats at the U.S. Embassy invited several family members of persecuted human rights lawyers to commemorate Constitution Day with them on Sept. 17, the anniversary of the United States’ adoption of its constitution. Among them was Wang Qiaoling, wife of lawyer Li Heping. Li was among hundreds of rights lawyers and activists who were arrested by the Chinese regime in a nationwide crackdown on July 9, 2015. It is often referred to as the 709 Incident and the lawyers arrested are known as 709 lawyers. Li was sentenced to prison for “inciting subversion of state power,”—a catch-all charge Beijing often uses against dissidents. He was released in May 2017, but Wang said at the time that Li looked emaciated and was barely recognizable.