This September marks the 15th anniversary of the Chinese Liberal Democrats. It was during the autumn conference of September 2006 during Sir Menzies, Lord Campbell's leadership of the party that CLDs was launched with Linda Chung as the first Chair. The late Lord Paddy Ashdown was of course a Patron with Sir Menzies with his history of association with work in China and the championing of the rights of HKers.

Recently, the Chinese Liberal Democrats received a message expressing the following:

"I really appreciate the Liberal Democrats for the solid support given to us Hongkongers!

However, I'm worried about the safety of Hongkongers moving to the UK, especially if supporters of the Chinese Communist Party gain political influence or get invited as a consultant to handle affairs regarding Hong Kong immigrants. There's a real risk that these people will cooperate with the Hong Kong or Chinese government to extend their oppression in and outside Hong Kong. I hope the Liberal Democrats can take some action regarding this and protect the safety of Hong Kongers who're seeking freedom and new lives in the UK."

On Saturday 24 July Chinese LibDem members participated in rallies to say #NotoAsianHate. These protests were organised by the Facebook community group Stop Asian Hate UK and simultaneous protests were held in London, Birmingham and Newcastle to raise awareness about the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Following the annoucement by the Government of a fund to help Hong Kong British National Overseas (BNO) Passport holders who have taken residence in the UK, we have produced a template motion to allow Liberal Democrat councillors to raise with their Councils. For those where we are in control we can enact real change and for those in opposition to push councils to apply for this funding. Please do feel free to edit the template to fit your own local circumstances. The full text of the motion is below but can also downloaded here.

This week, the US State Department issued an advisory note to US companies operating in Hong Kong highlighting risks that emerge from the implementation of the Chinese government's National Security Law. US Secretary of State, Anthony J Blinken, has highlighted the "…persistent and politically motivated campaign against the free press, imprisoned Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, and forced the closure of that publication - a bastion of independent reporting. Beijing has chipped away at Hong Kong's reputation of accountable, transparent governance and respect for individual freedoms, and has broken its promise to leave Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy unchanged for 50 years."

One Country, Two Systems was conceived by Deng Xiaoping, architect of China's Open Door Policy, as a formula not only for Hong Kong's reversion to China's sovereignty but also for Taiwan's ultimate unification with the mainland.

Under a so-called "1992 Consensus" reached between Beijing and the Kuomintang (KMT), both mainland China and Taiwan agreed to uphold the "One China" principle subject to different interpretations.

This week's news included an early "obituary" for Apple Daily, the eponymous newspaper founded by Jimmy Lai, a long-time critic of the Hong Kong and Beijing Governments.

The prediction of closure of the pro-democracy paper by the end of the week followed the arrests of the executives (including the editor-in-chief and the chief executive) and freezing of the assets of the parent company, Next Digital. All the staff of the publication are expected to resign this week and the last issue may be the June 26 edition.

This news is remarkable to me in 2 respects:

Following the coup d'etat in Myanmar on Feb 1st this year, the 'Tatmadaw' military have killed more than 860 civilians and imprisoned more than 6000 people. Random bombings of civilians, burning villages and killing protestors, have made a full scale civil war likely. The de facto leader of Myanmar is now the brutal General Min Aung Hlaing, the Chairman of the State Administration Council.

At the EGM held on 30 May 2021, attendees had a good discussion on the relative merits of retaining the name 'Chinese Liberal Democrats' or changing it to 'BESEA' or 'CESEA' Liberal Democrats.

Arguments for the change to BESEA was presented by the Chair Dr Yeow Poon. He said that the proposal arose following Covid 19 pandemic bringing with it a sharp rise in race-related hate crime against those of Chinese, East and SE Asian appearance due to xenophobia and Sinophobia . That was coupled with the younger generation increasingly identifying themselves either as 'British Chinese' or as 'East and SE Asians' rather than just as Chinese. CLD should therefore reach out to the diaspora communities to better represent their needs and concerns. Based on the CLD survey conducted prior to the EGM, BESEA LibDems was the most popular name chosen, over CESEA and CESA.