Hong Kong activists including Cardinal Joseph Zen, Jimmy Lai nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by US lawmakers

The retired Catholic leader, the jailed publisher and four others are cited as ‘ardent champions of Hong Kong’s autonomy, human rights and the rule of law’
All of the nominees have been charged, or are being investigated, under Hong Kong’s national security law

US-China relations

Robert Delaneyin Washington

Published: 7:43am, 3 Feb 2023

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A bipartisan group of US lawmakers announced on Thursday that they have nominated retired Hong Kong Catholic leader Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and four other prominent opposition activists from the city for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Representative Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican, and Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, nominated the group “because they are ardent champions of Hong Kong’s autonomy, human rights and the rule of law”, according to a statement by the lawmakers.

Smith and Merkley lead the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), which advises the US Congress on policy towards China. Representative Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat who is also a CECC commissioner, and Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican and former CECC chairman, joined in the nomination.

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Retired Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen fined for failing to register protester legal defence fund

The lawmakers also nominated Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam, former editor of Stand News, a now-defunct Hong Kong news outlet; Joshua Wong Chi-fung, jailed for his role in a pro-democracy vigil; Tonyee Chow Hang-tung, a lawyer for a disbanded civil society group; and labour rights advocate Lee Cheuk-yan.

“The nominees are representative of millions of Hongkongers who peacefully opposed the steady erosion of the city’s democratic freedoms by the Hong Kong government and the government of the People’s Republic of China,” said the announcement.

“Through the nomination, the members of Congress seek to honour all those in Hong Kong whose bravery and determination in the face of repression has inspired the world,” it said.

All of the nominees have been charged, or are being investigated, under Hong Kong’s national security law, which Beijing imposed on the semi-autonomous city in 2020, a move that caused a rift between Washington and authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing.

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The US, Britain and other Western countries have assailed the national security law and changes to the city’s election rules as a violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, the agreement that paved the way for the 1997 handover of Hong Kong’s sovereignty from London to Beijing.

In 2020, then US president Donald Trump signed a law sanctioning individuals and banks deemed to have aided the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy and an executive order ending the city’s preferential trading status soon after the national security law took effect. President Joe Biden’s administration has maintained Trump’s hard-line position on Hong Kong and mainland China.

Arrested last May, Zen is on bail pending investigation on suspicion of colluding with foreign or external forces to endanger national security.

Retired Hong Kong Catholic leader among 6 fined over defence fund for protesters

The former cardinal, 91, revealed on Thursday that he has been receiving hospital treatment for breathing difficulties since late January after a trip to the Vatican.

In December, Lai, 75, was sentenced to nearly six years in jail for fraud. Apple Daily, the Hong Kong newspaper he founded, was forced to close in 2021 after a crackdown by Hong Kong authorities.

In 2021, Rubio and other CECC lawmakers nominated Hong Kong’s entire opposition movement for the Nobel Peace Prize in response to the national security law.