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Submission to the Parliament Inquiry on Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement by Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation1

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Submission to the Parliament Inquiry on Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement by Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation1 Submission to the Parliament Inquiry on Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement by Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation1 1. On 26 March 2019, Australia and Hong Kong signed the Australia-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement, which was expected to consolidate the following cultural and economic ties between the two territories: a. Approximately 100,000 Australians live in Hong Kong, while around 96,000 Hong Kong people live in Australia;2 b. Over 120,000 people in Hong Kong are alumni of Australian universities;3 c. In 2018, Australian companies based 35 regional headquarters4, 50 regional offices5, and 87 local offices6 in Hong Kong, with more than 600 Australian business having a presence in the city;7 d. In 2018, Australian total merchandise trade with Hong Kong amounted to A$11.4 billion, making Hong Kong Australia’s 14th largest trading partner; in particular, Hong Kong was Australia’s 7th export destination, totalling A$10.4 billion;8 e. In 2018, the total stock of Australian investment in Hong Kong amounted to A$52.2 billion, while the total stock of Hong Kong investment in Australia amounted to A$118 billion, making Hong Kong Australia’s 12th largest source of inwards FDI stock.9 2. However, China’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s autonomy has been eroding the city’s freedom of speech and rule of law which underpin its ideal business environment for Australian companies, as shown by the following cases: a. In 2015, five booksellers who were based in Hong Kong and sold works critical of Beijing were abducted to mainland China and suffered from detentions and forced confessions;10 the incident constitutes a serious breach to Hong Kong’s freedom of press and human rights; 1 The Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation (the Delegation thereafter) was founded in July 2019 amid a series of protests against the government’s proposed extradition bill in Hong Kong. The Delegation includes 12 students’ unions of higher institutions, with two delegates from each students’ union. Our mission is to mobilise international support for the protection of human rights, autonomy, and democracy in Hong Kong through citizen diplomacy. On 16 August 2019, the Delegation co-organised the “Stand with Hong Kong, Power to the People Rally” in Hong Kong, supported by 60,000 local participants as well as similar rallies in 30 cities around 10 countries, including Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane. 2 https://hongkong.china.embassy.gov.au/hkng/australia-hong-kong-relations.html 3 https://hongkong.china.embassy.gov.au/hkng/australia-hong-kong-relations.html 4 https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp360.jsp?tableID=133&ID=0&productType=8 5 https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp360.jsp?tableID=134&ID=0&productType=8 6 https://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp360.jsp?tableID=206&ID=0&productType=8 7 https://hongkong.china.embassy.gov.au/hkng/australia-hong-kong-relations.html 8 https://dfat.gov.au/trade/resources/Documents/hong.pdf 9 https://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/not-yet-in-force/a-hkfta/a-hkfta-outcomes/Pages/a-hkfta- factsheet-aus-trade-investment-hk.aspx 10 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-booksellers/missing-hk-booksellers-say-arrested-for- sales-of-banned-books-in-china-idUSKCN0W20LCs b. Entry into Hong Kong is now subject to political considerations – in October 2017, Benedict Rogers, deputy chairman of the UK Conservative Party’s human rights commission, was refused entry to Hong Kong;11 in 2018, Victor Mallet, former Financial Times editor, had the renewal of his working visa denied after he had chaired a talk featuring a pro-independence activist;12 c. In August 2019, China’s aviation authority ordered Cathay Pacific to stop aircrew who had taken part in anti-government protests from operating flights to mainland China, and to handover the details of aircrew on flights using Chinese airspace; the company obeyed Beijing’s demands and fired four employees, followed by the resignation of the CEO and one of his deputies;13 this incident is a clear warning from Beijing threatening Hong Kong’s business community to “take the right side”. 3. Furthermore, Australian citizens are increasingly endangered by the abuse of state and policing power in Hong Kong, including: a. The five booksellers mentioned above include a British and a Swedish national – citizens of all nationality suffer from the threat of being abducted to mainland China from Hong Kong;14 b. In December 2018, Kevin Carrico, an Australian academic from Sydney's Macquarie University, was stalked by Wen Wei Po, a state-owned media mouthpiece in Hong Kong;15 c. The proposed extradition bill, if enacted, would allow rendition from Hong Kong of foreign nationals to mainland China and countries with a criminal procedure system that lack strong protections for the rights of defendants and with laws that are used to suppress human rights;16 d. Since June 2019, the police has fired more than 1,800 rounds of tear gas at not only protesting sites but also subway stations and residential neighbourhoods; bystanders without protective gears, including children and the elderly, have been seen getting caught in toxic smog;17 e. On 26 June 2019, two police officers were caught on security camera torturing a 62-year-old man in a hospital bed; they punched the man’s genitals, slapped his face, shined a bright torchlight into his eyes, and thrust a baton at his anus;18 11 https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2114938/british-human-rights-activist- refused-entry-hong-kong 12 https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2172383/british-journalist-victor-mallet- denied-entry-hong-kong 13 https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3023129/rupert-hogg-resigns-ceo-cathay- pacific-airways 14 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-booksellers/missing-hk-booksellers-say-arrested-for- sales-of-banned-books-in-china-idUSKCN0W20LC 15 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-18/australian-academic-followed-in-hong-kong-by-pro- beijing-paper/10630858 16https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Research/USCC%20Issue%20Brief_HK%20Extradition%2 0Bill.pdf 17 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/18/world/asia/hong-kong-tear- gas.html?fbclid=IwAR1apPyqoGTasFWNkMwPzqhjQT1EdYAuRTISUTvCe5Lcef5ySOM0PiFbKP U 18 https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/08/20/two-hong-kong-police-officers-arrested-torture-62-year- old-arrestee-hospital/ f. Riot police have been reported attacking innocent citizens indiscriminately, including a South African resident who was pushed to the ground despite her clothes bearing no resemblance to the protestors;19 g. The police deliberately omitted their responsibilities to protect citizens, journalists and district councillors from a planned triad attack on 21 July in Yuen Long District; even though several district councillors and citizens had informed the police of men dressing in plain white shirts with iron rods and knives gathering around the subway station a few hours before the attack, the police failed to deploy any officers in response to an obvious threat; the attack injured 40 citizens, including Legislative Councillor Lam Cheuk-ting.20 4. Apart from threatening the safety of citizens, the police’s tactics against anti- government protestors are incompatible with international human rights standards, such as: a. According to a report published by Amnesty International, Hong Kong police have confronted protestors with the unlawful use of batons and rubber bullets, as well as the improper use of life-threatening riot control agents (RCA) such as tear gas and pepper spray since June;21 on 11 August 2019, the police shot a female first aider’s with a bean bag round in Tsim Sha Tsui, causing rupture of her right eye;22 such acts constitute an extra-custodial use of force that involves the intentional and purposeful infliction of pain or suffering on a powerless person, which amounted to torture or cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment; b. The majority of police officers, including the Special Tactical Squad, have dodged accountability by not wearing visible tags with the individual officer’s name or with their identification number;23 c. The police have also repeatedly attacked journalists24 and imposed excessive restrictions on medics;25 d. The police have infringed the right of peaceful assembly on a continual basis still since July 2019; they have consecutively rejected the application for a letter of non-objection eight times by alleging the possibility of violence during or after rallies, and have made unreasonable changes to the route of rallies with these baseless accusations;26 this is an outright violation against Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 27 of the Basic Law. 5. In light of the above threats to Australian and Hong Kong citizens, we recommend the following action to the Government of Australia: To issue an official notice to the Hong 19 https://hk.news.appledaily.com/breaking/realtime/article/20190729/59874738 20 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-extradition/hong-kong-police-criticized- over-failure-to-stop-attacks-on-protesters-idUSKCN1UH02O 21 https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA1705762019ENGLISH.pdf 22 https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/08/12/hong-kong-police-shoot-projectiles-close-range- tai-koo-protester-suffers-ruptured-eye-tst/ 23 https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA1705762019ENGLISH.pdf 24 https://freedomhouse.org/report/special-reports/democratic-crisis-hong-kong 25 https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA1705762019ENGLISH.pdf 26 https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3022103/hong-kong-police-refuse- permission-three-anti-government Kong Government that the Government of Australia would re-negotiate the Free Trade Agreement between Australia and Hong Kong, China pursuant to Article 20.4 in 2020 unless, by 31 December 2019, the Hong Kong Government has: a.
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