Martin Lee and the Communists

Martin Lee spoke at a lawyer's march protesting the extradition bill last year

I read an article in The Guardian today about Martin Lee Chu-ming, the founding chairman of the United Democrats of Hong that subsequently became the Democratic Party.

The 81-year-old was arrested last month on charges of organizing and participating in an illegal assembly in Victoria Park on August 18 last year.

He told The Guardian that his father, Lee Yin-wo was a general in the Kuomintang army who fought against the Japanese. After the Communists defeated the KMT, many went to Taiwan, but Lee moved his family to Hong Kong. Martin Lee was born there in 1938 when his mother was on vacation, and they went back to China.

Martin Lee with his father Lee Yin-wo and son Joseph

Martin was 11 years old when the family moved to Hong Kong and his father became a school teacher at a Jesuit school called Wah Yan College, Kowloon.

Many years later Lee told his son he chose to move the family to Hong Kong because it was a safe haven for his children, and he didn't want to be involved with either the KMT or the Communists.

He felt the KMT were corrupt, and the Communists were not to be trusted.

Even though Lee knew Zhou Enlai from their student years studying in France together, Zhou invited the elder Lee back to China many times, but he declined the offer.

He told his son: "Don't trust the Communist party. When they need you, they'd give you everything, but when they're done they'd drop you, kick you and stamp on you."

Martin Lee has always remembered this.

In the early 1980s, Lee was one of the 23 Hongkongers who was on the Basic Law Drafting Committee. But when the Tiananmen Square massacre happened in June 1989, he criticized Beijing for crushing the democracy movement and Lee was banned from the body.

Lee was arrested last month for illegal assembly last August

In 1994 Lee founded the Democratic Party and has been a thorn in the side of Beijing ever since, a "traitor" for lobbying western countries' support of Hong Kong democracy.

He thinks it is ironic that the safe haven that his father moved his family to is now under threat with the proposal to pass the national security law on Thursday.

"They [Beijing] have completely breached the [Sino-British joint declaration] agreement," Lee said. "There should be only one body to legislate laws in Hong Kong and that's that's the legislative council."

Lee said the most chilling aspect of China's move was that "they have set a precedent for Beijing to legislate on Hong Kong's behalf. We're the meat on the chopping board."

Police used the water cannon against protesters, reporters

Since 2003 Beijing has wanted to legislate the national security law, and the urgency has quickened due to its claim that last year's protests were due to "foreign forces"; it is applying the national security laws through the Basic Law's Annex III that allows national laws to be implemented.

Lee said Chinese laws can only be applied through this mechanism of they are related to defense, foreign affairs, or "matters outside Hong Kong's autonomy", but the national security laws do not fall into any of these categories.

In addition, Lee said what the current Chinese regime is doing goes against late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping's desire to keep Hong Kong without change for 50 years so that China could catch up.

"Deng Xiaoping wanted 'one country, two systems' because he wanted China to change," Lee said. "Now China doesn't even want to follow the rules of its own book... they are unwilling to undercut their power and they fear you're a threat. But if you continue to suppress people like this, things will explode."

Police fired several rounds of tear gas at protesters

And they did this afternoon, with thousands of people ignoring social-distancing regulations and coming out in Causeway Bay to vent their anger towards the national security bill. They shouted slogans, like "Hong Kong independence is the only way out!"

They clashed with police who responded with tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons. Some 180 people were arrested, many people were injured.

Like Lee, the protesters don't trust the Communists either and don't want to go down without a fight.

"I won't allow this to be end of Hong Kong," said Lee. "Hong Kong may be a tragedy but I won't give up... even if you jail me, kill me. I will still point out it's their fault. Democracy will come to China one day."