Latest for @dw_chinese - In an interview on Sunday night, Martin Lee, the prominent Hong Kong politician and barrister, told me that the international community has a moral obligation to speak up for #HongKong people. https://medium.com/@williamyang_35700/martin-lee-international-community-has-the-moral-obligation-to-speak-up-for-hong-kong-people-1ecb6decd9ac

"When Deng promised Margaret Thatcher that if she would agree to return Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories back to China on July 1, 1997, then China would promise not to rule Hong Kong directly from Beijing, but to allow Hong Kong people to run Hong Kong."

"In June, 2014, China’s State Council issued a white paper in seven different languages saying that the Central government has comprehensive jurisdiction over Hong Kong and Macau.

This completely changed Deng Xiao-Ping’s 12 words, and everything that they are doing now is clear that they want to implement the new policies on Hong Kong."

"The international community has a say in the matter because right after the Joint Declaration was announced to the world, a lot of governments came out to applaud it."

"Later I found out that the Chinese government and the British government actually lobbied hard for international support, because they were afraid that too many Hong Kong people will be leaving Hong Kong as they had no confidence in Hong Kong’s future."

"So they lobbied for open and public support from other countries and they gave them the support. So clearly these governments are under moral obligation to speak up for Hong Kong people, particularly our young people."

"If you allow the Chinese government to easily breach an international agreement, how can you be sure that China won’t break another agreement with another country?"

"Many years ago when Deng Xiao-Ping first came out with the idea of One Country Two Systems, I looked at it and said “it is possible to work but extremely difficult.” China is so big and Hong Kong is so small."

"In the context of “One Country Two Systems,” we need two very important things. We need universal suffrage, so that the Chief Executive and all members of the Legislative Council can be chosen by Hong Kong people through universal suffrage."

"The second one is that there must be no interference from Beijing, because they are the bigger player in this relationship. Although democracy was promised to us, 10 years from July 1, 1997, they kept on postponing it."

"The central government is now running Hong Kong through the liaison office. They decide all important things for us."

"When Beijing claimed that they had complete jurisdiction over Hong Kong in 2014, there should have been huge complaints from HK’s Chief Executive. However, the person in the position at the time agreed to Beijing’s claim. It is completely rewriting Deng Xiao-Ping’s promises"

"Article 22 of the Basic Law was really important, as it clearly indicated that no departments under the central government should interfere in Hong Kong affairs. That was there to cater to Hong Kong people’s worries. It was a very useful safeguard."

Martin Lee on his view about #antiELAB and #HongKong's young protesters - "I can entirely understand their utter frustration. In fact, many of them complained about my generation’s support for the Joint Declaration and the One Country Two Systems model."

"The student leaders I talked to understand the situation facing my generation, but I can still understand their frustration. Beijing didn’t carry out its promises. If they had allowed us to develop democracy without any interference from Beijing, everyone would be very happy."

"However, they chose not to honor the most basic condition of this agreement. There is no democracy and they also want to control Hong Kong’s administration. How can they blame Hong Kong’s younger generation?"

"If I were a teenager or in university, I might have joined them. I don’t blame them for complaining about us, but I always tell them that you can’t win with violence. We only have moral values and we have reason.

We must take the moral high ground by using love and peace. We can’t win by using violence."

"But I believe many young people didn’t want to use violence. Nobody can control the whole movement as it’s made up by many tiny groups. I’m convinced now that the majority of them don’t want violence."

"I certainly hope from now on, the protesters will stop using violence, because it doesn’t do our cause for democracy any good. It would only let the Chinese government have a reason to call us the terrorists.

We will also lose the understanding and support from the international community."

Martin Lee on how he views the arrest on Saturday - "I’d rather be charged together with my colleagues rather than to be left alone. I have been doing this for so many years through peaceful means and by holding them to their own agreement. However, it didn’t work."

"So I can’t complain about these young people trying another way although I’m against using violence."

"I can understand them, but if the Hong Kong government wants to charge me, I will face the consequences. I will never resort to violence. If the court found me guilty, I will go to prison. I know justice is on my side."

"If China is allowed to get away with breaking an international agreement in such a ridiculous manner, how can the international community expect China to honor other agreements?"

"The international community needs to insist China to honor its obligation towards Hong Kong. If they want to deal with China, Hong Kong is the key to their relationship with Beijing."

Special thanks to @WilsonLeungWS for connecting me to Martin and helping to make the interview possible.