On August 21, 2026, Hong Kong’s High Court, applying the National Security Law imposed by Beijing, found the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, its former chair Lee Cheuk-yan, and former vice-chair Chow Hang-tung guilty of “incitement to subversion of state power.” Former vice-chair Albert Ho had earlier pleaded guilty and was convicted. The court will hear mitigation pleas on August 28, and the three defendants could face prison terms of up to ten years.
The Chinese Democratic Unity Alliance expresses its strongest indignation and protest against this nakedly political verdict.
Throughout its thirty-two years, the Hong Kong Alliance steadfastly commemorated the victims of June Fourth and called for vindication of the 1989 movement, an end to one-party dictatorship, and the building of a democratic China. These are peaceful expressions protected by international human rights covenants. They are not crimes.
Labeling remembrance of the dead as “subversion,” treating the preservation of historical memory as a “threat,” and imprisoning people who peacefully pursue democracy show that what the Chinese Communist Party truly fears is not violence but truth; not disorder but the people’s awakening to freedom and democracy.
This is not the rule of law, but political persecution dressed in legal clothing. It does not protect national security; it protects one-party dictatorship.
The freedoms of speech and assembly, judicial independence, and civil society in which Hong Kong once took pride are being destroyed one by one under the iron curtain of the National Security Law. The CCP’s promises of “one country, two systems,” “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong,” a “high degree of autonomy,” and “fifty years without change” have been thoroughly disproved. Less than thirty years after the handover, those promises have become wastepaper.
The Hong Kong Alliance case also sends the clearest warning to the people of Taiwan: the CCP’s promises have no credibility, and the destination of “one country, two systems” can only be one-party dictatorship. The oppression Hong Kong suffers today is the real-world answer to why Taiwan must never accept CCP rule.
CDUA solemnly demands
- Immediately overturn the political convictions of the Hong Kong Alliance, Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung, and Albert Ho;
- Immediately and unconditionally release Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung, and everyone imprisoned for peaceful expression or for commemorating June Fourth;
- Stop using the Hong Kong National Security Law to suppress dissent, and restore freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, and political participation in Hong Kong;
- The international community must continue to monitor sentencing, hold the responsible officials accountable, and not allow silence to enable the destruction of Hong Kong’s freedoms.
The CCP can force the Hong Kong Alliance to disband, but it cannot erase the history of June Fourth. It can close Victoria Park, but it cannot extinguish the candlelight in people’s hearts. It can imprison Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung, and Albert Ho, but it cannot imprison the Hong Kong people’s longing for freedom.
Every political injustice created by the CCP sounds the death knell for dictatorship. The democrats it suppresses and imprisons today will become an important political force in a future democratic China, and will be witnesses to and builders of the end of the old authoritarian system.
We pay our highest respect to Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung, Albert Ho, and all Hong Kong people who stand by their conscience.
We call on Hong Kong people overseas and democratic forces around the world to unite, keep speaking out, build collective strength, and resist CCP tyranny together.
Never forget June Fourth!
Free all political prisoners!
Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times!
Chinese Democratic Unity Alliance (CDUA)
Chair Chen Liqun
August 22, 2026