Foreign national prosecuted over Hong Kong protests

China announced on Friday that it would for the first time prosecute a foreign national in connection to the pro-democracy protests that broke out in Hong Kong last June and continued for the rest of last year. Lee Henley Hu Xiang, a citizen of Taiwan and Belize, has been charged with "colluding with overseas forces to intervene in Hong Kong affairs."

The state-run China News service said an investigation into the businessman had found evidence that he had funded "hostile anti-China groups in the United States" and "criminal activities that endanger national security."

Read more: China's lack of press freedom causes problems for the world

Hong Kong has seen waves of major pro-democracy protests since the 2014 "Umbrella Movement." The most recent unrest was sparked by a planned extradition bill, which has since been scrapped, that could have seen Hong Kong citizens accused of crimes tried in mainland China instead of in the city.

Lee was arrested last November in the city of Guangzhou, near Hong Kong, amid widespread accusations by China that foreign forces were funding and promoting what state media dubbed "the anti-China chaos."

Recently, Beijing has been accused of using the coronavirus pandemic to clamp down even harder on pro-democracy activists seeking a greater level of autonomy for the city, including using an app meant to trace contact between infected individuals to track protestors. After weeks on lockdown, residents have slowly begun protesting again – and the arrests of demonstrators by Chinese authorities is again on the upswing.

'A strong and iron fist'

One of the men arrested was lawmaker Martin Lee, the 81-year-old founder of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, who was detained for "unlawful assembly."

Lee told DW that China was absolutely "taking advantage" of the global crisis to come down hard on the democracy movement.

"From now on, China's going to rule Hong Kong with a really strong and iron fist, no doubt about it…I think the police would resort to shooting at the protesters," he said, calling on other countries to give China more pushback about its activities in Hong Kong.

Recent interventions from Beijing, such as changing the head of the Hong Kong central government liaison office, has deepened the lack of trust between the city and the mainland, as well as trying to implement measures that will make it more difficult for pro-democracy candidate to run in legislative elections in September.

es/sms (dpa, Reuters)

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