The Mustard Seeds
Hong Kong Concern Group
A prominent Canadian-born Hong Kong dissident, one of eight pro-democracy activists targeted this week with cash bounties by the city’s Beijing-backed police force, is urging Canada to cancel its extradition agreement with the former British colony.
Dennis Kwok, born in Edmonton, was ousted from office as a legislator in Hong Kong in November, 2020, after he bucked against the Chinese Communist Party’s interventions in the territory that Beijing had originally pledged would have control over its own affairs for 50 years. He was one of four politicians removed from office for what China deemed as disloyalty to the regime.
(Click here for full article: The Globe and Mail, July 5, 2023)
Beijing is facing a loss of control over overseas students/Youths apologize to people in Hong Kong
Overseas Chinese students used to be a considerable asset to the Chinese Communist Party CCP. In recent years, intelligence agencies in Western countries have come to realize that the Beijing government has a large network of secret agents abroad including various hometown associations, chambers of commerce, and the CSSA Chinese Students and Scholars Association at universities. In those CSSA, certain students are picked and paid by local embassies and consulates to help monitor other Chinese students. This network of Chinese students overseas has also been manipulated by the CCP to export its values to Western countries and to interfere in the internal affairs of the host countries.
YouTube: China Insights Dec 17, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7CLn2tBIU4
2023 Hong Kong Policy Act Report by US Department of State
//Hong Kong authorities continued to arrest and prosecute people for peaceful political expression critical of the local and central governments, including for posting and forwarding social media posts. While Internet access remained widespread and generally open, local authorities criminally charged people engaged in online political speech. //
Hong Kong exodus
Halfway into five decades of freedom promised Hong Kong when Britain returned the region to China, Beijing is tightening its grip.
//Tommy Chan still vividly remembers the injuries he treated during the climax of the 2019 protests in Hong Kong.
“One of the most critical cases I handled was a deep wound near a protester’s eye. The others said he was hit by a gun bullet, but we weren’t sure what kind of bullet it was,” he recalls in Cantonese.
“When the protesters came to us for help, we saw a lot of blood coming from the wound. We tried to stop the bleeding, but it didn’t work. No matter how many pads and how many bandages we put on the wound, it just kept bleeding.”
Chan was a first aid volunteer who helped anyone injured during the protests that began in June 2019. He treated eyes and skin itchy and reddened from police firing tear gas and pepper spray — but the injuries he saw soon escalated to serious wounds from baton beatings, beanbag rounds and rubber bullets as the violence galvanized Hong Kong for months..//
-- CBC News
June 30, 2022
25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong
July 1 marks the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong back to China. Reporter Bernice Chan looks at how Hong Kong has changed since 1997.
YouTube: CBC Vancouver Jun 30, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjzFI13jjOc
“Justices continue to think and can change. I am ever hopeful that if the court has a blind spot today, its eye will be open tomorrow”
"I stand the law’s good servant but the people’s first. For the law must serve the people, not the people the law."
Other Concern Groups for Hong Kong
Amnesty International Hong Kong:
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/hong-kong/
Human Rights Watch:
Our Mission and Action
Since June 2019, the Hong Kong government has continuously demonstrated to the international society its inability to comply with the Basic Law and the constitutional principle of “One Country, Two Systems”. Its incompetence, along with the use of inappropriate and unnecessary violence, has drastically violated human rights, the freedom of speech, and the freedom of the press, accompanied by an apparent deterioration in the juridical system.
With the passing of the Hong Kong national security law, the situation has worsened at an alarming pace. Dozens of opposition politicians, lawyers, scholars, and democracy activists have been arrested under the new law, for participation in unofficial election primaries that attracted more than 600,000 voters. The legislative body is now left with largely pro-Beijing politicians following the disqualifications and subsequent resignations of pro-democracy lawmakers.
With deep concerns about the situation, the Mustard Seeds Hong Kong Concern Group was formed. We are a group of Christian leaders across different churches with a united passion to pray for and watch over this city, which is overwhelmed by incidents of human rights violations and injustices, both reported and unreported by mass media.
Mustard Seeds asserts the supremacy of the Word of God as our rule of life. We are bonded together not by the might of humankind nor earthly powers but through the body of Christ (Ephesians 6:10), led by our Lord Jesus Christ who had risen from the dead (Roman 8:11), with no enemy but the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:12). As such, Mustard Seeds (Luke 13:18-20) has no affiliation with any political party nor power, and solely relies on the power of the Holy Spirit as our source of strength.
Our mission is to raise concerns to the Canadian government and general public about the deterioration in democracy, freedom, and human rights conditions in Hong Kong, and to motivate communities of faith to pray for the situation in Hong Kong, especially in solidarity with those who are oppressed and voiceless.
If you wish to join us in prayer, please contact us at contactus@themustardseeds.net.
May God bless you and our homeland – Hong Kong!