A former intelligence officer with the U.S. Army was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in prison for selling critical military documents to an individual believed to be tied to the Chinese government.
Korbein Schultz, 25, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/army-intelligence-officer-pleads-guilty-to-selling-defense-information-to-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pled guilty</a> last year to conspiring to collect and transmit national defense information, unlawfully exporting controlled information to China, and accepting bribes in exchange for sensitive government information. The sale of the documents, which included information on American military technology, took place over a three-year period from May 2022 to March 2024, according to the Justice Department. 
“This defendant swore an oath to defend the United States — instead, he betrayed it for a payout and put America’s military and service members at risk,” <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-us-army-intelligence-analyst-sentenced-selling-sensitive-military-information">said</a> Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Justice Department remains vigilant against China’s efforts to target our military and will ensure that those who leak military secrets spend years behind bars.”
He could have faced 65 years in prison if given the maximum on all counts.
Schultz was paid $42,000 for sending the information to an unidentified foreign national living in Hong Kong believed to be connected to the Chinese government.
The information that he provided included his unit&#8217;s operational order before it was deployed to Eastern Europe, information applying lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war to Taiwan, technical manuals for the Army&#8217;s HH-60 helicopter and F-22A fighter aircraft, manuals on Intercontinental Ballistic Missile systems, American intelligence on the Chinese military and the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, details on American military exercises in South Korea and the Philippines, and documents on American military satellites and missile defense systems.
Schultz was first contacted to sell the secrets over a freelance web-based work platform by an individual pretending to work for a geopolitical consulting firm, according to the Justice Department. The department added that Schultz attempted to recruit a friend who worked for the Department of Defense’s Indo-Pacific Command to take part in the scheme as well.
The FBI&#8217;s Nashville office led the investigation, with assistance from the Department of Defense and the Army Counterintelligence Command.
“This sentencing is a stark warning to those who betray our country: you will pay a steep price for it,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The People’s Republic of China is relentless in its efforts to steal our national defense information, and service members are a prime target. The FBI and our partners will continue to root out espionage and hold those accountable who abandon their obligation to safeguard defense information from hostile foreign governments.”

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Former Army Intel Officer Sentenced After Selling U.S. Military Secrets To China

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Seven Chinese nationals on Monday were accused by the Justice Department of targeting American journalists and political figures, including senior members of a 2020 presidential campaign team, in a wide-ranging hacking operation. 
The defendants, Ni Gaobin, Weng Ming, Cheng Feng, Peng Yaow, Sun Xiaohui, Xiong Wang, and Zhao Guangzong, are accused of aiding a Chinese-backed hacking group in support of China&#8217;s Ministry of State Security’s foreign political and business espionage as well as surveillance of Hong Kong democracy activists and the Uyghur people. The seven allegedly worked for the Hubei State Security Department, which surveilled thousands of American politicians, academics, journalists, and businessmen from 2010 to 2024, according to the <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/24-cr-43_indictment_redacted.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indictment</a>. 
“These allegations pull back the curtain on China’s vast illegal hacking operation that targeted sensitive data from U.S. elected and government officials, journalists and academics; valuable information from American companies; and political dissidents in America and abroad. Their sinister scheme victimized thousands of people and entities across the world, and lasted for well over a decade,” <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/seven-hackers-associated-chinese-government-charged-computer-intrusions-targeting" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> U.S. Attorney Breon Peace. 
During one operation during the Trump administration that lasted from June to September 2018, hackers targeted Republican and Democrat senators from more than 10 states, White House officials, members of the Departments of Justice, Commerce, Treasury, and State, and members of Congress with malicious emails, the indictment said. These emails were reportedly also sent to the spouses of some of the political figures. 
In a different operation, multiple European politicians were targeted, including members of the European Union and more than three dozen parliamentary accounts in the United Kingdom, as part of surveillance into a group of politicians examining threats from the Chinese Communist Party.  
During the 2020 presidential election cycle, a non-specified campaign was targeted by hackers.
“In or about May 2020, the Conspirators began targeting email accounts belonging to several senior campaign staff members for a presidential campaign,” the indictment says. “In or about November 2020, the Conspirators sent emails containing tracking links to targets associated with additional political campaigns, including a retired senior U.S. government national security official.”
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The DOJ said in a press release that campaign staffers for Republicans and Democrats had been targeted ahead of the 2020 election but did not specify the campaigns or races. 
The indictment also said that millions of Americans were caught up in the hacking scheme, with phone call records, cloud storage accounts, and email accounts all being exposed. 
“America’s sovereignty extends to its cyberspace,” Peace added. “Today’s charges demonstrate my Office’s commitment to upholding and protecting that jurisdiction, and to putting an end to malicious nation state cyber activity.”

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Chinese Nationals Charged With Hacking Senior Staffers For 2020 Presidential Campaign

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A U.S. Army intelligence analyst was arrested this week on allegations that he sold military secrets to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China</a>.
Korbein Schultz, a 24-year-old Army soldier stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky and Tennessee, was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-army-intelligence-analyst-arrested-and-charged-conspiracy-obtain-and-disclose-national" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> on Thursday with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information, exporting technical data related to defense articles without a license, conspiracy to export defense articles without a license, and bribery of a public official. Schultz is accused of sending critical military documents, including information on U.S. weapons systems, to an individual in Hong Kong in exchange for $42,000.
“Mr. Schultz, a member of the U.S. Army, stands accused of conspiring to obtain and provide national defense information to an individual overseas. As part of the conspiracy, the defendant provided sensitive government information to his coconspirator in exchange for thousands of dollars, placing personal profit above the security of the American people,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department. 
Schultz <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2024/03/08/korbein-schultz-fort-campbell-us-army-soldier-accused-selling-secrets-china-pleads-not-guilty/72898109007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared</a> in federal court in Nashville on Friday and pled not guilty to the crimes he is charged with.
According to the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1341561/dl?inline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indictment</a>, Schultz’s illegal activity began in June 2022 and continued until his arrest. One of his most recent duties was listed as “Classified Document Custodian,” the indictment noted. 
The individual Schultz allegedly worked with is a foreign national who lives in Hong Kong and works for a geopolitical consulting firm. Schultz is accused of sending that individual documents related to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), information on hypersonic equipment, studies on the future development of U.S. military forces, studies on major countries like China, and summaries of military drills and operations.
The DOJ also said that Schultz sent an Air Force Tactics Techniques and Procedures manual for the HH-60W helicopter, an Air Force Tactics Techniques and Procedures manual for the F22-A fighter aircraft, and an Air Force Tactics Techniques and Procedures manual for intercontinental ballistic missile to the individual in Hong Kong. 
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“The conduct alleged in today&#8217;s indictment represents a grave betrayal of the oath sworn to defend our country,” FBI National Security Official Larissa Knapp said. “Instead of safeguarding national defense information, the defendant conspired with a foreign national to sell it, potentially endangering our national security.”
Earlier this year, Navy Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/navy-service-member-who-sold-secrets-to-china-sentenced-to-just-27-months-in-prison" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was sentenced</a> to just over two years in prison after he pled guilty to being bribed to send sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer. He was paid at least $14,866 by a Chinese intelligence officer for sending information on the U.S. Navy operational security, military trainings and exercises, and critical infrastructure, according to the DOJ.

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‘A Grave Betrayal’: U.S. Intelligence Officer Accused Of Selling Military Secrets To China

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CoCo Lee, a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hong-kong" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hong Kong</a>-born singer and actress, died on Wednesday, according to a statement from her family. She was 48.
Lee&#8217;s sisters, Carol and Nancy, said in an Instagram post that CoCo had been suffering from depression for a few years, &#8220;but her condition deteriorated drastically over the last few months.&#8221;
The sisters said that Lee decided to take her life on Sunday and was later rushed to the hospital where doctors tried to save her. She died after being in a coma for three days.
&#8220;2023 marks the 30th anniversary of CoCo’s singing career, in the past 29 years, she’s won countless international acclaims with top selling songs and has left audience w[ith] an astounding impression of her excellent live performances,&#8221; the sisters said. &#8220;CoCo is also known to have worked tirelessly to open up a new world for Chinese singers in the international music scene, and she went all out to shine for the Chinese.&#8221;
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&#8220;We are proud of her! As a family of CoCo, we are very grateful and honored to have such an excellent and outstanding sister,&#8221; they said. &#8220;We are thankful to God for giving us such a kind angel. We know now she has gone to a happier place and no longer suffers from depression; we trust God has her best interest looked after!&#8221;
Lee was an international music star best known for her Oscar-nominated song &#8220;A Love Before Time&#8221; from the movie &#8220;Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,&#8221; according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/07/05/coco-lee-pop-singer-disney-star/">The Washington Post</a>. &#8220;She also voiced the lead character in Disney&#8217;s &#8220;Mulan&#8221; when it was released in China.
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Actress CoCo Lee, 'Mulan' And 'Crouching Tiger' Star, Dead At 48

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The following is an excerpt from U.S. Senator Josh Hawley&#8217;s new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/168451357X/?tag=regnerywebsite-20">Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs</a>, from Regnery Publishing.
<h2>Love and Hope</h2>
The man who makes war on the evil in his life and sacrifices his own pride opens his life, in the end, to something far more powerful. He opens it to love. Love is the burning center of the warrior’s existence and the secret of all true courage. The warrior loves something dearly and passionately more than himself. He loves his wife and children. He loves his nation. He loves God. And that love makes him strong.
Self-regard, by contrast, is a weak affection. It will consume your life, to be sure, as in the story of Narcissus, who loved his image so completely he wasted his life away staring at it. But it cannot inspire. If your life is relentlessly about you, you will never run toward danger. You will never confront the giants that threaten, whether your finances or your boss or an addiction. You won’t risk incurring the wrath of the powers that be by speaking the truth. You will always try to keep yourself safe, undamaged. And you will always have everything to lose. That way ends in despair and self-contempt.
A man’s conscience is a powerful thing. It will condemn the man who constantly avoids struggle and pain as a coward. But if you will abandon your focus on self, you will find the love that gives courage. And love, in turn, gives birth to hope.
Sometimes courage is portrayed these days as the refuge of the hopeless. J. R. R. Tolkien puts something that sounds like this sentiment into the mouth of Gandalf in his Lord of the Rings saga. “There never was much hope,” Gandalf says, as Sauron’s darkness grows and the quest to destroy the Ring seems to falter. “Just a fool’s hope.” Many have interpreted this passage to mean courage is most noble, most true, when the warrior believes he is doomed to fail. But that is not quite Tolkien’s point, and not the Bible’s either. Tolkien’s heroes soldier on not because they are fatalists, content to be mere pawns of chance. Nor because they are nihilists, believing all to be meaningless. They soldier on because they believe right will prevail. And they believe their lives can make a difference in making it so.
I have known men like this, and seen with my own eyes the power of their hope. In the fall of 2019, the Chinese Communist government in Beijing orchestrated a crackdown on the hitherto independent city of Hong Kong. Displeased with Hong Kong’s autonomy, and Hong Kongers’ (as they call themselves) criticism of the Beijing government, Communist leaders threatened to suspend self-government in the city, contrary to China’s own treaty obligations that guaranteed the city’s special status. In response, protestors took to the streets, only to be met in return by violent police repression. The protestors refused to back down, and the clashes turned bloody.
I was in my first year in the Senate at the time, watching these events unfold from afar. I learned from sources in Hong Kong that the protests were being informally led — it was in many ways truly a spontaneous uprising — by a group of young, very young, men and women. When I heard the accounts of their courage and listened to their pleas for help, I knew I had to go.
I traveled to Hong Kong in October of 2019 to meet with them and see the protests firsthand. The U.S. consulate in the city was less than delighted with my visit. Consulate staff advised beforehand against the trip. Once there, they strongly urged me to keep to my hotel. I politely ignored this advice. I wanted to see the protestors myself, see their courage and their stand, and lend whatever support I could.
One member of my staff had extensive contacts with the protestors. As soon as night fell, we left the hotel and headed toward where we believed, based on his information, the latest clashes between the government and the Hong Kongers were underway. We hailed a cab, but the driver refused to take us more than a few blocks. Eventually we walked, finding our way to the Mong Kok district, usually a bustling shopping and commercial hub, but on that night a battleground. The clashes between pro-Beijing police and the protestors had already turned violent by the time we arrived. A car burned in the street. Protestors were spray-painting “Free Hong Kong” on boarded-up windows. There were people running in every which direction. As we watched, a large group of Hong Kongers began to assemble in the middle of the road, peacefully, carrying signs decrying the crackdown. Suddenly a phalanx of pro-Beijing police in riot gear appeared opposite them, heavily armed. They took to loudspeakers and ordered the crowd to disperse. They threatened to disperse them by force if they did not.
The U.S. government often sends military liaisons with members of Congress when they travel abroad. In this case, at this moment, my military liaison leaned into my ear and said, “Sir, we should back away. If they begin firing into the crowd and we are caught up in it, it could cause an international incident.” He was right. But the protestors did not back away. We stayed too. I wanted to see with my own eyes what would happen. The protestors held their ground, and eventually it was the riot police who turned and moved back. All night long the protests continued, with explosions and violent exchanges in many parts of the city.
I met with the leaders of the protest the next morning. It was an honor. They were startlingly young — only in their early twenties, most of them. Several were veterans of earlier protest movements. A few had already spent time in prison. I promised to report what they were doing to people back in the United States, to explain what they were fighting for.
Why are you willing to face prison? I asked them — and though I did not name it, we all knew what else they faced, the other, ever distinct possibility: death. We love Hong Kong, they said, and we want to see it free. We believe we can be a beacon for the world. They had hope.
They were realistic at the same time. They knew the odds were long. They knew the Beijing government could destroy Hong Kong’s freedoms in a moment, if it chose. But they believed their stand was worth making, even if they did not live to see their cause succeed, because they believed their actions would echo and build and — in time — whether in their lifetimes or another’s, prevail.
That is the courage of hope. And even now, they go on hoping. After the events I witnessed, the Beijing authorities intensified the repression. They forcibly put down the protests. Many of the young people I met that October were later imprisoned or exiled. Yet their hope endures. And the light of that hope — in the right, in God — cannot be extinguished.
God made the world with a plan, to be something — an Eden. And even now that plan is advancing. Every man can play a part. We are born to play a part. That is a hope that pain and death cannot destroy. And a man who gives his life to that hope, and to its Author, will not be disappointed.
Josh Hawley serves as Missouri&#8217;s senior U.S. Senator.
This excerpt is taken from <a href="https://www.regnery.com/9781684513574/manhood/">Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs</a>, from Regnery Publishing.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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What I Learned About Manhood From The Hong Kong Protestors

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A Roman Catholic cardinal was arrested Wednesday by Hong Kong authorities on suspicion that he endangered communist China’s national security by colluding with foreign forces.
Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90 – along with three others – was arrested by Hong Kong’s National Security Police, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-religion-china-arrests-beijing-63d20b3a98288c10f610311b52ecd5a6">reported</a>. 
“Today’s arrests signal beyond a doubt that Beijing intends to intensify its crackdown on basic rights and freedoms in Hong Kong,” said Benedict Rogers, the CEO of U.K. human rights group Hong Kong Watch. “We urge the international community to shine a light on this brutal crackdown and call for the immediate release of these activists,” he added. 
Zen’s arrest was reportedly connected to his involvement with the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, “which provided legal aid to people who took part in 2019 pro-democracy protests that were quashed by security forces, the group said,” according to the AP.
Since 2020, communist China has cracked down on pro-freedom activists in Hong Kong, arresting many under the ill-defined National Security Law imposed by Beijing. 
Zen has criticized the Vatican for its 2018 agreement with the communist country for bishop nominations, the AP noted. The cardinal believes the agreement “was a sellout of underground Christians in China.”
For the Vatican’s part, it expressed concern with “the news of the arrest of Cardinal Zen and is following the evolution of the situation with extreme attention,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. 
The three others arrested in Hong Kong included singer and actress Denise Ho, lawyer Margaret Ng, and scholar Hui Po-kueng, who were all reportedly arrested for their roles with the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund. 
Just hours after Zen was arrested, the cardinal was reportedly released on bail from the Chai Wan Police Station.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NOW?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NOW</a> Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90, has just been released on bail from Chai Wan Police Station after being arrested by authorities over his links to a fund supporting <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HK</a> protesters
Zen, an outspoken critic against the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chinese?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chinese</a> Communist Party, waved to the media as he got onto a car <a href="https://t.co/4ggDK4lTnH">https://t.co/4ggDK4lTnH</a> <a href="https://t.co/EBBljqQjwK">pic.twitter.com/EBBljqQjwK</a>
&mdash; Chan Ho-him (@ThomasHHChan) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThomasHHChan/status/1524409203997102080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The arrests come days after Hong Kong selected a pro-Beijing former security chief to be its next leader through a closed voting process. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hong-kongs-next-leader-pledged-to-end-the-ideology-of-hong-kong-independence">reported</a> that John Lee was selected after being the only candidate on the ballot. Lee’s selection is widely viewed as part of communist China’s continued attempts to maintain control over Hong Kong. 
“Choosing [Lee] signals that the Chinese Communist Party is not confident about security in Hong Kong. It also lets us know that the central government continues to distrust the Hong Kong government and people,” John Burns wrote in a column for the Hong Kong Free Press.

Cardinal Joseph Zen

‘Crackdown On Basic Rights And Freedoms’: 90-Year-Old Cardinal Arrested On Suspicion Of Endangering Communist China

Roman Catholic Cardinal Arrested By Hong Kong Authorities On Suspicion That He Endangered Communist China

A pro-Beijing former security chief has been chosen as Hong Kong’s next leader prompting concerns about the future of civil liberties on the island. 
John Lee, who led the crackdown on pro-democracy activists back in 2019, was elected through a closed voting process which the New York Times described as a &#8220;rubber-stamp election.&#8221; He was the only candidate on the ballot and his selection is seen as another move for the Chinese Communist Party to assert its control over the jurisdiction. 
“I look forward to all of us starting a new chapter together, building a Hong Kong that is caring, open and vibrant, and a Hong Kong that is full of opportunities and harmony,” Lee <a href="https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-elections-beijing-hong-kong-f136ce684eaafab980800337dd9ef4c2">said</a> after he had been declared the winner. 
Lee was chosen by a committee of 1,500 people who were subject to screening from the mainland Chinese government. He earned 99% of the committee’s vote and will take over from outgoing leader Carrie Lam. 
The transfer of power comes as dissenting political voices are eliminated from Hong Kong politics, and only “patriots” loyal to the central government are now eligible to hold office, according to the Associated Press. 
Joseph Borrel, the European Union’s foreign policy head, stated that Lee’s victory “violates democratic principles and political pluralism in Hong Kong.”
Lee <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-61267490">supported</a> Hong Kong’s controversial extradition bill in 2019 which opponents said would give China the ability to target government critics and spurred widespread protests on the island. Lee was sanctioned by the U.S. for a sometimes forceful response to protesters while he said he was working “to safeguard security.”
The former Hong Kong security chief has also pledged to purge “the ideology of Hong Kong independence, violence and extremism.”
&#8220;Choosing [Lee] signals that the Chinese Communist Party is not confident about security in Hong Kong. It also lets us know that the central government continues to distrust the Hong Kong government and people,&#8221; John Burns noted in a column for the Hong Kong Free Press. 
Other critics have pointed to fewer “checks and balances” in the Hong Kong government and decreasing political liberties. 
“In the legislature and the election committee, there is almost no political opposition and the political spectrum is concentrated towards the pro-establishment camp,&#8221; said Ivan Choy, a lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
One pro-democracy group, the League of Social Democrats, protested at the polls expressing concern over the future of freedom in Hong Kong. 
“This is what John Lee&#8217;s new chapter looks like, a shrinking of our civil liberties,&#8221; protester Vanessa Chan said, according to the BBC. “We know this action will have no effect, but we don&#8217;t want Hong Kong to be completely silent.”

Hong Kongers Protest Ahead Of The G20 Summit

Hong Kong’s Next Leader Pledged To End ‘The Ideology Of Hong Kong Independence’

Hong Kong's New Leader Is A Pro-Beijing Former Security Chief

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In mainland China and Hong Kong, Easter was a private affair again this year for the tens of millions of Christians who would normally attend church services. All churches, temples, and mosques in mainland China have been locked down since COVID began more than two years ago, meaning that Christians and other believers haven’t been able to gather to celebrate religious holidays since 2019.
Hong Kong authorities also re-imposed pandemic lockdowns from early January until this week amid China’s worst COVID outbreak in two years. Many of Hong Kong’s Christian churches offered online Easter services that parishioners and other believers could watch virtually. Still, the future of those alternatives is now in doubt as Beijing continues to tighten its grip over the once semi-autonomous city.
Under President Xi Jinping, all religions have faced persecution. So far, international condemnation has mainly focused on the more than 1 million Uyghur Muslims forced into labor camps, which Beijing cynically calls “vocational training centers” in the country’s western region.
But Chinese Christians also have faced varied forms of suppression during Xi’s time in power. Catholic churches refusing to comply with state mandates <a href="https://bitterwinter.org/xi-jinping-portraits-replace-catholic-symbols/">have been torn down or had their crosses removed</a>, while images of Christ have been replaced with posters of Xi.
The Chinese government controls religious organizations by forcing them to register and submit to the leadership of approved “patriotic religious entities” that follow national guidelines, including teaching that loyalty to the country and communism are integral to their faiths. Those who refuse must operate underground, subject to government punishment.
For several years, the Christian church in Hong Kong was largely spared. But recent actions taken against Hong Kong’s Christian churches are chipping away at the religious freedom the city has enjoyed since the British established it as a colony in the early 1840s.
Reverend L., a visitor to the U.S. from Hong Kong who requested anonymity to speak to RealClearPolitics, said the Chinese government for more than 20 years has been trying to infiltrate and curtail the independence of Hong Kong churches because of their integral place in the city’s society and influence over young minds.
Roughly 60% of schools in Hong Kong are run by Christians – Catholics and Protestants – even though the government fully funds them, a vestige of the British colonial era.
“It was great because Hong Kong citizens could avoid the high tuition fees [for high-quality education], but now it’s actually bad for the church because the CCP is taking advantage of that and tries to control the church by controlling Christian schools,” Rev. L. told RCP. “Once they control Christian schools, they could basically control the church pretty easily.”
The CCP has already successfully compromised some of the principals and administrators of these schools by “wining and dining” them, the pastor said, and persuading church members to join the CCP. Meanwhile, the party is indoctrinating young priests in the Philippines and sending them to Hong Kong to replace aging clergy.
The Hong Kong government is also starting to take steps to curtail Internet freedom. On the mainland, a new law, imposed March 1, makes it illegal to share religious content online without government permission. While Hong Kong authorities haven’t gone that far, its leaders did shut down a handful of websites across the territory devoted to the 2019 citizen uprising against new laws ceding more of their autonomy to Beijing.
Tom Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute, based in Washington, D.C., said Xi’s ultimate goal is “Sinicization,” which is the absorption of any autonomous Chinese entities – in this case, religious organizations – into the communist apparatus.
“The reasons are not difficult to discern,” Farr tells RCP. “Despots throughout history, and certainly the totalitarians of the 20th and 21st centuries, have understood then, and understand today, that they will not retain power if substantial numbers of their citizens are faithful to an authority greater than the party and the state.”
Great Britain handed control of Hong Kong back to China nearly 25 years ago, triggering a massive emigration as residents feared an erosion of civil rights. China agreed to accept some conditions, including allowing Hong Kong to continue its “one-country, two systems” form of government for 50 years. Hong Kong, along with Taiwan, maintains its own financial, legal, and legislative operations independent from the mainland. But Xi has vowed to reunify both Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Xi and the CCP view Christians&#8217; strong institutional presence in Hong Kong as a significant hurdle to their goal of reunification. China’s Christians number more than 100 million (out of a population of 1.4 billion), making them the country’s largest religious minority. In Hong Kong, Rev. L. estimates there are approximately 650,000 Christians out of a population of 7.4 million. Despite their minority status, Christians have played an outsized role in resisting the CCP’s reunification efforts.
Christians were instrumental in helping organize the 2019 uprising, when millions of Hong Kong residents took to the streets to protest a proposed extradition law allowing Chinese leaders to arrest dissidents and hand them over to mainland government officials for prosecution. Moreover, many of the protesters attended Christian schools. Pastors and priests also held prayer vigils outside the legislature’s offices and often stood between protesters and police to prevent violent clashes. The Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Christian Council, along with leaders from the leading Taoist, Confucian, and Buddhist organizations, openly called for the government to respect the rights of citizens to march and assemble legally.
As Hong Kong police escalated the use of force against protesters, Roy Chan, a local preacher, began a hunger strike to call for withdrawal of the extradition bill, among other pro-democracy goals. When police didn’t tamp down the violence, Chan organized a team of pastors, social workers, and other volunteers to stand between advancing riot police and protesters in an attempt to mediate.
In the wake of the protests, China passed a wide-ranging “national security law” for Hong Kong that makes it easier to punish protesters and reduces the city’s autonomy. The law criminalizes any act of subversion, secession, collusion with foreign or external forces, and terrorism, defined as the use of violence or intimidation against people.
Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong billionaire who owns an opposition newspaper, was prosecuted under the new law and is currently serving a 14-month jail sentence for unauthorized assembly for his role in the 2019 protests.
Christian clergy faced less straightforward but still severe punishments for their involvement in the protests. In October, Chan testified to Congress that HSBC, the largest bank in Hong Kong, in 2020 had frozen his accounts and his wife’s, on order from the Hong Kong government. The couple and their children fled to the United Kingdom to escape prosecution.
The day after their departure, Hong Kong police accused the couple of money laundering and fraud and arrested the church’s accounting staff.
“It’s a pity that the Hong Kong government has acted similarly to the Chinese Communist party, using economic crimes to suppress dissidents,” Chan told the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan caucus within the House of Representatives created to promote and defend human rights around the globe.
“As of today, the religious freedom in Hong Kong is being suppressed severely,” Chan added. “Quite a number of pastors who support human rights and freedoms are moving to the UK from Hong Kong due to intimidations that they faced and different political concerns.”
Religious freedom advocates in the U.S. have also recently sounded the alarm over a meeting, held at Beijing’s insistence, between Hong Kong’s Bishop-elect Stephen Chow and 15 senior Catholic priests with the mainland’s state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association.
Nina Shea, senior fellow and director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, in a <a href="https://www.hudson.org/research/17673-china-now-threatens-religious-freedom-in-hong-kong">recent essay</a> called the session “unprecedented,” recounting that while Chinese government officials watched on Zoom, the Hong Kong bishop and priests “were lectured on the fine points of President Xi’s religious policy of ‘Sinicization.’”
“While no directives were issued, priests knowledgeable about the unprecedented conclave reported that Xi was the elephant in the room” and viewed it as “just the first step in what the CCP calls their ‘reeducation,’” Shea wrote. “The clear takeaway was that Hong Kong’s churches, historically independent of the CCP, are having their wings clipped.”
In January, Tak Kung Pao, the Chinese government’s newspaper in Hong Kong, published several articles “angrily blaming the Christian schools for nurturing the movement against the party’s oppressive measures,” Shea noted, adding that all Hong Kong schools are legally required to provide the CCP’s “national security education” with more drastic educational changes “sure to follow.”
Some religious freedom advocates are placing partial blame for Beijing’s encroachment on the Vatican for not resisting China more vigorously. Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, hails from Argentina, which has a strong socialist government and has struck deals with Beijing that legitimize the “patriotic church.”
In 2020, Francis <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/world/europe/vatican-china-bishops.html">agreed with Beijing</a> that in exchange for China formally recognizing the pope’s authority within the church, the Vatican, in turn, would acquiesce to the legitimacy of bishops Beijing had previously appointed. To the dismay of critics, details of the agreement remain largely confidential. (Francis has also refused to meet with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, a move that would anger Beijing.)
Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to the Vatican in an attempt to sink the deal over human rights and religious liberty concerns but was unsuccessful. The pope lifted an ex-communication of Chinese Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu just two years earlier as a precondition for a prior agreement. After his appointment to head the Mindong diocese, he led 33 diocesan priests to a “formation course” at the Central Institute of Socialism with the CCP’s local United Front, which mainly focuses on suppressing ethnic and religious groups.
Francis’ negotiations with the CCP stand in stark contrast with Pope John Paul II, a former bishop from Poland whose steadfastness helped do away with the Iron Curtain in the late 1980s. Through a series of speeches, John Paul II expressed moral umbrage at the Soviet Union’s efforts to wipe out religion and replace it with state atheism.
When Pope Francis is working with the CCP, it becomes “very, very difficult for priests in Hong Kong to voice any opposition against registration with the government because it sounds like Pope Francis has given implicit approval,” Rev. L. said.
Dissent from Cardinal Joseph Zen, Hong Kong’s widely revered bishop emeritus, prompted CCP threats earlier this year. <a href="http://www.takungpao.com/news/232109/2022/0127/681155.html">Ta Kung Pao accused him</a> of abusing his position to “disrupt Hong Kong” and threatened him with prosecution under the national security law.
With Beijing appearing increasingly emboldened, religious freedom advocates in the U.S. are urging the Biden administration and other international leaders to pressure Xi to stop threatening the church’s independence in Hong Kong.
Instead, Farr said, China is seeing weakness in the U.S. and complicity on the part of the Vatican.
“While the Vatican is not a ‘great power’ like the U.S., it has traditionally been the most effective and powerful moral voice in the international community,” he said. “Unfortunately, its facilitation of the savage designs of Xi Jinping, in the form of its disgraceful accord with his regime and its failure to stand with courageous Catholics like Jimmy Lai and Cardinal Zen, has dramatically reduced the Vatican’s moral influence in the world.”
And, Farr warns, Xi’s ambitions could easily spill over to Taiwan if China decides to emulate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“This is a dangerous moment for democracy, religious freedom, and peace in China and the region,” he said. “American weakness is a serious problem.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author&#8217;s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics&#8217; White House/national political correspondent.

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Red Flags For Faith-Based Liberty In Hong Kong

Christianity

Freedom of Religion

Xi Jinping

Late into the night on Wednesday, around 11p.m. local time, security staff at the University of Hong Kong surrounded a statue dedicated to the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre and obscured it with curtains and plastic barriers.
Those in the area could hear the sounds of construction but were not told what was going on. Xinqi Su, Hong Kong correspondent for the Agence France-Presse, said the Pillar of Shame statute was covered up, and she was told not to film. She also said security guards tried to drive her away and wouldn’t tell her what was happening.
“A cargo container is placed on the ground outside a cafeteria next to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PillarOfShame?src=hashtag_click">#PillarOfShame</a>. All the ways around the Pillar have been guarded and blocked and some students said windows facing the Pillar are boarded. The arrangements seem aiming to make sure no image can be captured,” Su <a href="https://twitter.com/XinqiSu/status/1473700036567613452?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">reported</a>.
Su followed up by saying security was so tight around the statue that a food deliverer wasn’t allowed in to complete his job. The HKU council reportedly agreed earlier that day to remove the statue, Su reported.
The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/arts-and-entertainment-beijing-hong-kong-national-security-8f6a67e2b4b6b1a73b7ca7c5a583026d?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=news_tab">reported</a> that the statue was removed just “days after pro-Beijing candidates scored a landslide victory in the Hong Kong legislative elections, after amendments in election laws allowed the vetting of all candidates to ensure that they are ‘patriots’ loyal to Beijing.”
“The removal also happened in the same week that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam traveled to Beijing to report on developments in the semi-autonomous Chinese city, where authorities have silenced dissent following the implementation of a sweeping national security law that appeared to target much of the pro-democracy movement following mass protests in 2019,” the outlet continued.
The 26-foot-tall Pillar of Shame “depicts 50 torn and twisted bodies piled on top of each other, was made by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt to symbolize the lives lost during the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989,” the AP reported.
In October, the university started demanding it be removed, against the wishes of activists and rights groups. The statue’s creator told the university he would take the statue back to Denmark if he was granted legal immunity to not be persecuted under Hong Kong’s national security law that persecutes those who dissent against Chinese oppression. So far, Galschiøt has been unsuccessful in reclaiming his art.
“No party has ever obtained any approval from the university to display the statue on campus, and the university has the right to take appropriate actions to handle it at any time,” HKU said in a statement released Thursday. “Latest legal advice given to the university cautioned that the continued display of the statue would pose legal risks to the university based on the Crimes Ordinance enacted under the Hong Kong colonial government.”
The university plans to put the statue in storage until it can be moved.

“Pillar Of Shame” Statue Faces Threats Of Removal At HK University

University Of Hong Kong Removes Statue Dedicated To Victims Of Tiananmen Square Massacre

Disney has reportedly removed an episode of “The Simpsons” from its streaming platform in Hong Kong in a move some are viewing as an effort to appease China.
The episode in question, “Goo Goo Gai Pan,” first aired in 2005 and shows the iconic family from Springfield visiting China, including a location called “Tien An Men Square.” There, a sign informs them, “On this site, in 1989, nothing happened.&#8221;
As <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/simpsons-china-censorship-1235053711/">The Hollywood Reporter</a> noted, “It appears the episode has suffered precisely the kind of the censorship it was written to ridicule.”
The episode’s disappearance follows on the heels of China&#8217;s new amendment to its film censorship law that allows Beijing to censor entertainment it deems a threat to national security. According to <a href="https://variety.com/2021/global/asia/disney-plus-simpsons-hong-kong-1235120971/">Variety</a>, &#8220;Goo Goo Gai Pan&#8221; is still available on the platform in other parts of Asia.
A professor at the Academy of Film at Hong Kong Baptist University who specializes in censorship told <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5104cac1-28f8-43cd-b99e-ac78bcbbfb67">The Financial Times</a> he believes the episode’s omission is “largely to do with the business interest of US streaming companies.”
“It is in their best interest not to offend the Chinese government, or simply create complications,” professor Kenny Ng said, adding, “they have no strong motivation to put on offending materials at this sensitive moment.”
Ng also said he fears other streaming giants could follow Disney’s lead as “a new ground for negotiations between freedom of expression and censorship” emerges.
Numerous outlets, including The Daily Wire, have reached out to the Walt Disney Company for information about how and why the episode was removed, but so far Disney press representatives have not responded to any media requests.
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/communist-china-appears-to-block-online-tiananmen-square-museum-follows-crackdown-on-other-exhibits">reported</a>, the Chinese Communist Party has been taking strong steps in recent months to suppress the memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre. On that site, on June 4, 1989, the People’s Liberation Army opened fire on peaceful Tiananmen activists demonstrating for democracy, killing hundreds, possibly thousands (estimates vary).
For the last two years, Beijing has banned candlelight vigils in Hong Kong commemorating the deaths of the Tiananmen victims. They’ve also censored social media groups dedicated to honoring them. Then, in June, state authorities shuttered a museum dedicated to Tiananmen, seized its assets, and arrested some of the proprietors.
China has been exercising greater control over Hong Kong since passing a new national security law in 2020, which The Daily Wire described as sweeping:
<blockquote>Enacted during secret sessions that bypassed Hong Kong’s legislature, it gives police the power to imprison dissenters without trial, shut down newspapers, and investigate cultural institutions without regard to local Hong Kong authorities. As <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/hong-kong-national-security-law-10-things-you-need-to-know/">Amnesty International</a> has said, based on the law’s tenets, “‘Endangering national security’ can mean virtually anything,” including wearing clothing with certain pro-freedom slogans.</blockquote>

D23 Expo 2019

Disney Removes Simpsons Episode In Hong Kong In Latest Move To Appease China

Disney

The Simpsons

The legislature of Hong Kong passed a new law allowing censorship of certain films in the most recent move to infringe upon the liberties of people in the region. 
As <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59047633">reported</a> by the BBC: 
<blockquote>
The film censorship law was approved in the opposition-free Legislative Council. It gives the chief secretary &#8211; the second-most powerful figure in the city&#8217;s administration &#8211; the power to revoke a film&#8217;s licence if it is found to &#8220;endorse, support, glorify, encourage and incite activities that might endanger national security”. 
</blockquote>
Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/hong-kong-passes-film-censorship-law-safeguard-national-security-2021-10-27/">reported</a>, “[p]unishment for violating the law included up to three years imprisonment and fines of up to HK$1 million ($128,400).” 
&#8220;The goal is very clear: it’s to improve the film censorship system, to prevent any act endangering the national security,&#8221; Commerce Secretary Edward Yau reportedly told the Legislative Council.
The move appears to match a trend of increasingly strict crackdowns on the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong.
Reuters added, “This year, for the first time since 1969, the Oscars were not broadcasted in Hong Kong, matching decisions in mainland China, despite an unprecedented nomination for a Hong Kong-born director.”
The Hollywood Reporter <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/hong-kong-film-censorship-law-1235038330/">noted</a> that the law is a huge hit to the area that was once a flourishing filmmaking spot.
“The new film rules in Hong Kong will have a chilling effect,” Joe Piscatella told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year as censorship policy in Hong Kong was <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/hong-kongs-new-film-censorship-1234972300/">discussed</a>. “One of the last vestiges of free speech in Hong Kong is now gone. The result is self-censorship by filmmakers who now have to question what might run afoul of the new rules and increased scrutiny by financiers and distributors who now must consider that very same question.”
The move comes after China pushed its new national security law on Hong Kong last year in order to crush any attempts to speak out against the oppressive government. 
According to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/hong-kong-national-security-law-10-things-you-need-to-know/">Amnesty International</a>, the 2020 national security law is especially restrictive and unclear. Among other concerns, “[u]nder this new law ‘secession’, ‘subversion’, ‘terrorism’ and ‘collusion with foreign forces’ incur maximum penalties of life imprisonment,” the group reported.
“The Chinese Communist Party passed the Hong Kong National Security Law on June 30 of last year; the statute, according to the Biden administration, increases penalties for ‘secession’ and ‘subversion.’ Despite massive protests that attracted international attention, the law gutted civil liberties for residents of Hong Kong,” per <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hong-kong-issues-first-guilty-verdict-under-china-demanded-national-security-law">The Daily Wire</a>. 
A man in Hong Kong was sentenced to nine years in prison in July in the first <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-sentenced-to-nine-years-in-prison-in-first-ruling-under-new-hong-kong-national-security-law">ruling</a> under the new national security law.
During protests last year, Tong Ying-kit, the 24-year-old man, crashed a motorcycle into a group of police officers while he was holding a flag with the message, “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times.” 
Amnesty International also recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/amnesty-international-to-close-its-hong-kong-offices-citing-new-national-security-law">announced</a> it will be shutting down its offices in Hong Kong by the close of the year, citing concerns over the new national security law. 
“This decision, made with a heavy heart, has been driven by Hong Kong’s national security law, which has made it effectively impossible for human rights organizations in Hong Kong to work freely and without fear of serious reprisals from the government,” said Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, chair of Amnesty’s International Board.

Hong Kong Golden Bauhinia Flower Square

Hong Kong Passes Film Censorship Law

Film

Amnesty International will be shutting down its offices in Hong Kong by the close of the year, the human rights group announced on Monday, citing concerns over the new national security law. 
The group <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/10/amnesty-international-to-close-its-hong-kong-offices/">announced</a>: 
<blockquote>
The local ‘section’ office will cease operations on 31 October while the regional office – which is part of Amnesty’s global International Secretariat – is due to close by the end of 2021. Regional operations will be moved to the organization’s other offices in the Asia-Pacific.
</blockquote>
“This decision, made with a heavy heart, has been driven by Hong Kong’s national security law, which has made it effectively impossible for human rights organizations in Hong Kong to work freely and without fear of serious reprisals from the government,” said Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, chair of Amnesty’s International Board.
“Hong Kong has long been an ideal regional base for international civil society organizations, but the recent targeting of local human rights and trade union groups signals an intensification of the authorities’ campaign to rid the city of all dissenting voices. It is increasingly difficult for us to keep operating in such an unstable environment,” she added.
The group pointed to the new national security law put in place by the Chinese government as the reason for the closure. The group noted that the law “was enacted on 30 June 2020. It targets alleged acts of ‘secession’, ‘subversion of state power’, ‘terrorist activities’ and ‘collusion with foreign or external forces to endanger national security’.”
As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-sentenced-to-nine-years-in-prison-in-first-ruling-under-new-hong-kong-national-security-law">reported</a> earlier this year, a man in Hong Kong was sentenced to nine years in prison in the first ruling under the new national security law.
During protests last year, Tong Ying-kit, a 24-year-old man, crashed a motorcycle into a group of police officers while holding a flag with the message, “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times.” 
“This overall term should sufficiently reflect the defendant’s culpability in the two offenses and the abhorrence of society, at the same time, achieving the deterrent effect required,” a group of three judges wrote in the ruling, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-protester-sentenced-to-nine-years-under-chinas-national-security-law-11627629763">The Wall Street Journal.</a> 
Tong “was sentenced to 6½ years in jail for inciting secession and eight years for terrorism, to be served partly consecutively and partly concurrently, resulting in a total of nine years’ imprisonment,” the Journal reported. 
There was no jury for the trial and the judges were chosen by Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, due to the new controversial security law.
Bais recently discussed how the law has affected the region. 
“The environment of repression and perpetual uncertainty created by the national security law makes it impossible to know what activities might lead to criminal sanctions. The law has repeatedly been used to target people who have upset the authorities for any number of reasons – from singing political songs to discussing human rights issues in the classroom,” she said.
“The pattern of raids, arrests and prosecutions against perceived opponents has highlighted how the vagueness of the law can be manipulated to build a case against whomsoever the authorities choose,” Bais added.
As <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/amnesty-shut-hong-kong-offices-given-national-security-law-risks-2021-10-25/">reported</a> by Reuters on Monday:
<blockquote>
A Hong Kong Security Bureau spokesman said in response to a Reuters request for comment that &#8220;every person or organisation must abide by the laws of Hong Kong,&#8221; and that the security legislation &#8220;upholds human rights&#8221;.
</blockquote>

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Amnesty International To Close Its Hong Kong Offices, Citing New National Security Law

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