SAN JOSE, Calif.—Hong Kong Freedom Beacon invited former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and senior policy advisor, Miles Yu, for an event at the Calvary Chapel to discuss the liberation of Hong Kong and call for an end to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
During the event, Pompeo said the CCP’s Marxist ideologies are contrary to Chinese traditions. “This is totally alien to historical Chinese culture. In fact, the Chinese Communist Party is not only the greatest foreign threat to America, it is the greatest threat to the 1.4 billion still living on the mainland there,” he said.
He and other event speakers called out the CCP’s strict internet firewall, lack of transparency, and encroachment on Hong Kong’s autonomy.
“The central thesis of the policy that we developed in the Trump administration was the recognition that the Chinese Communist Party does not represent those 1.4 billion people,” stated Pompeo.
Senior policy advisor, Miles Yu, said, “We had a China policy with an American attitude, based on American values.”
Yu explained that the United States needs “moral clarity” and to defend “every human being’s unalienable rights” in order to address the threat of the CCP and its influence.
Events Leading to the 2019 Hong Kong Protests
Hong Kong, a former British colony, has experienced multiple protests since the region was returned to China on July 1, 1997. After the handover, the United Kingdom and China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which granted Hong Kong self-governance and a degree of autonomy for 50 years after the transition.However, since the handover, the CCP has reportedly violated the Sino-British Joint Declaration on multiple occasions, leading to democracy protests over the years.
The most recent protest was in 2019. Hong Kong residents took to the streets to call on leaders to withdraw an extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong to transfer criminal suspects to not only Taiwan but also China to be tried for crimes. The proposed bill emerged from a murder case in 2018.
On Feb. 8, 2018, a young Hong Kong couple, Chan Tong-kai and Poon Hiu-wing, traveled to Taiwan for a vacation. On Feb. 17, 2018, Chan returned home alone. He later admitted to murdering Poon, his then-pregnant girlfriend, in Taiwan.
Because the murder took place in Taiwan, and Hong Kong and Taiwan lack an extradition agreement, Hong Kong authorities could not charge Chan with a crime. In May 2019, Hong Kong’s government proposed the 2019 Extradition Bill, which sparked a series of protests across the region.
While protests are not new, the 2019 protests were the first time lawyers joined Hong Kong youth to speak out against the CCP’s actions. Hongkongers say the bill would have increased the CCP’s control over the region. Under the CCP, China’s opaque court system has a 99-percent conviction rate.
Founding of Hong Kong Freedom Beacon
The Hong Kong Freedom Beacon was founded by Elmer Yuen, a businessman from Hong Kong now living as a fugitive activist in the United States. Yuen understood the CCP’s oppression after a meeting with a CCP official in 2019, during the height of the Hong Kong protests.“I was in Beijing exactly two years ago, and some official invited me to a barbecue in the suburbs of Beijing,” explained Yuen. “This official [was] from the Reform and Development Commission… And he asked me, ‘What’s happening in Hong Kong? What do the young people want?’ And I, of course, told him, freedom, rule of law, and democracy. Then he said, ‘This is not real.’”
Yuen said that this was the moment he understood the CCP’s oppression. “I suddenly woke up. None of these communist people understand what [freedom] is,” Yuen said.
He described that under the CCP, the idea of freedom is not taught in schools or discussed in society. Yuen said, “The entire communist leadership, and the normal people, because they brainwash everybody, these universal rights does not exist.”
Yuen worked as a successful businessman in Hong Kong for many years; however, after realizing the CCP’s true nature, he began speaking out and defending Hong Kong’s fight for freedom. He eventually moved to the United States to continue raising awareness of the situation in China.
“I came to this country a year and a half ago, and I proposed to the U.S. Congress, to several congressmen. I said, ‘These guys are criminals.’ For the last 70-some years, they’re criminals, because they don’t have to follow the law. They use influence, they use money, and they can overcome everything.”
Yuen explained that the concept of freedom does not exist under the CCP. “There is no law. This whole thing about law is nonsense. There is no law; this whole thing is for show.”
He said that many people have never experienced what freedom and rights are while under the CCP.
The speakers at the San Jose event encouraged countries to decouple with the CCP. They said people should be aware that protecting Hong Kong’s freedom means protecting the freedom of people worldwide.
