Hong Kong protest is still continuing although new year is getting closer. Just recently, the police force seized nearly USD 10m from major funds to help protesters.
Reportedly, besides freezing the money, the police also arrested four members of the fundraising group. In addition, the accusation is pertaining to money laundering.
The investigation focused on Spark Alliance, a non-profit online platform established in 2016. It, furthermore, is a platform to bail protesters out of jail and support them pay their legal fees.
Regarding the arrest, Chan Wai-kei, the acting superintendent of the Hong Kong Police Narcotics Bureau’s financial investigation division, did not directly answer a question whether that ‘crime’ really belongs to money laundering.
“Money laundering means you continue to handle the money even when you know it’s gained from unlawful activities,” said Chan.
In response to the arrest, Spark Alliance said that the police acts in “a fraudulent fashion,” and accused them of “smearing the Spark Alliance and other support channels.” In addition, HSBC closed the alliance’s bank account.
Following the event, HSBC stated that its decision to close the account bears no relation to the situation. Furthermore, the bank intends to work together with the alliance to get the right information.
Due to the event, numerous protesters dressed in black and wearing masks gathered outside HSBC’s headquarter in Hong Kong.
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Hong Kong Protest and China’s Demand on No Foreign Intervention
Chinese President Xi Jinping stated that China will not permit any foreign intervention on Hong Kong and Macau. Accordingly, he argued that the issues within the two territories belong to China’s internal affair.
“I must emphasize, since Hong Kong and Macau’s return to the motherland, dealing with these two Special Administrative Regions’ affairs is entirely China’s internal affairs and none of the business of foreign forces,” he said. “We do not let any external forces interfere.”
President Xi Jinping made the statement during the 20th anniversary of the return of Macau to Chinese rule. On the same occasion, he praised Macau’s patriotism to stay positive towards China under Beijing’s rule.
Despite being indirect, his remark greatly bears connection to what is happening in Hong Kong at the moment. Looking at Macau, he wanted to indicate that the ‘one government, two systems’ is working just fine and, instead, brings prosperity to Macau.
Hong Kong has been conducting unrest rallies to reject the system for months. Although protesters say that their actions are independent, China believes that there actually exists foreign interventions.
He told the people that foreign forces are trying to disturb China’s ‘one government, two systems.’ Among the foreign forces, Beijing mostly blames the United States and the United Kingdom for provoking the protest to weaken China.
Also Read: Hong Kong is the Biggest Geopolitical Threat to Markets – Economist
