Police in southern China have arrested seven men including the suspected mastermind of a foiled gun plot targeting veteran Hong Kong democrat Martin Lee and media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

The South China Morning Post newspaper cited unnamed police sources in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen as saying they arrested a Hong Kong man suspected of being behind the plot, along with six alleged accomplices with links to organized criminal gangs.

“It is unclear whether his six alleged accomplices are Hong Kongers or mainlanders, but all have strong links to Hong Kong’s triad societies,” the newspaper cited a person familiar with the matter as saying.

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Post tags: crime, Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee, violence
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The alleged plot was directed at veteran democrat and China critic Martin Lee, a leading figure in the territory’s political and democratic development before and after 1997 when the former British colony reverted to Chinese rule.

Huang Nanhua, 50, alias Wong Siu-ming, is charged with “carrying arms and ammunition with intent to commit an arrestable offense,” court documents showed. He is also accused of unlicensed possession of firearms.

[...]The plot was uncovered during a routine police roadblock, when Huang was found with a homemade firearm, five bullets and pieces of paper with details about Lee, including his name, office address and phone number, the court was told.

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Post tags: assassination, Hong Kong, hong kong politics, legco, Martin Lee
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The plot to kill Lee, a veteran activist and long-time critic of Beijing, was revealed on Saturday, but took place last summer during elections for Hong Kong’s legislature.

[...]The South China Morning Post revealed the story, saying police had arrested an alleged hitman from China and a Hong Kong accomplice.

[...A spokeswoman] said the 49-year-old had been charged with conspiracy to shoot a person, carrying a firearm with intent, possession of a firearm and ammunition without a licence and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

The 50-year-old has been charged with possessing arms and ammunition without a licence.

See the South China Morning Post article which broke the story (subscription required).

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Post tags: assassination, Hong Kong, Martin Lee
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Hong Kong’s leading democracy campaigner Martin Lee vowed Thursday to carry on his battle for universal suffrage in the southern Chinese city, despite retiring after 23 years as a legislator.

Lee, hailed as the “father of democracy” in Hong Kong, said he would continue to travel overseas and update foreign leaders on both the “good and bad things” about political progress here.

“I will continue to speak out inside and out of Hong Kong,” he said at a lunch at the city’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club, a day before his career as a lawmaker officially ends.

He said he remained upbeat about the implementation of universal suffrage in Hong Kong and the mainland.

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Hong Kong’s best-known democracy advocate said Friday he will end his political career but keep pressing for greater rights, a campaign that has already led Beijing to brand him a traitor.

Martin Lee, 69, said he will not run for re-election in the local legislature in September. However, he said, he will “continue pushing for democracy in Hong Kong until we have democracy.”

Lee’s high-profile campaign for direct elections in Hong Kong has made him a champion of human rights to many in the West and a reviled troublemaker to China. He was first elected to the local legislature in 1985.

Read also Hong Kong Democracy Pioneer Lee to Retire as Lawmaker by Joshua Fellman, and Leading Hong Kong democrat to step down from legislature by AFP.

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Post tags: Hong Kong democracy, hong kong politics, Martin Lee
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On Hong Kong Democratic Party founder and Legco member Martin Lee being labeled a race traitor and running dog after his WaPo article, which proposed engagement with Beijing in lieu of Olympic boycott, was widely interpreted by some as a call for American intervention in China’s human rights situation just days after he met with president George Bush’s National Security Advisor and “cold warrior” John Negroponte, readers of NetEase Olympic Report‘s series of reports documenting furor and backlash aimed at Lee over the weekend made the following comments:

On Tsang Hin-chi‘s criticism of Lee for lacking ‘the bravery of Chinese blood’:

网易青海西宁网友 ip：220.167.*.*：
2007-10-28 19:07:13 发表
作为一个香港人，到其它国家要求外国来干预我们中国事务,这是不对的
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Qinghai
As a Hong Konger, to go to another country and demand it intervene in our China’s affairs, is wrong.
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(Image of Martin Lee)

(...)
Read the rest of China: Rules of Olympic Engagement – John Kennedy (150 words)

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Post tags: Hong Kong, Martin Lee, nationalism, Olympics human rights
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In accepting the invitation to attend China’s Games, President Bush said this would be “a moment where China’s leaders can use the opportunity to show confidence by demonstrating a commitment to greater openness and tolerance.” Instead of a “moment” of change, China needs structural and long-term reforms: placing the Communist Party under the rule of law, unshackling the media and Internet, allowing religious adherents to freely practice their faiths, ceasing harassment of civil-society groups that work on AIDS and the environment, and addressing modest calls for accountability in the political system. Mr. Bush and other world leaders planning to attend the Olympics should not wait for the opening ceremony, but must start now with sustained efforts to achieve this agenda.

(...)
Read the rest of China’s Olympic Opportunity – Martin Lee (115 words)

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Post tags: Martin Lee, Olympics human rights, U.S. relations
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