HONG KONG: One of the Hong Kong people detained in China last year for illegal border crossing appeared in one of the city’s courts on Wednesday to hear charges of arson and possession of offensive weapons related to the anti-government protests of 2019.
Hoang Lam Phuc, 17, for whom dozens gathered outside the court to show their support, was part of a group of 12 captured at sea in August 2020 by Chinese authorities as they tried to flee Hong Kong on a speedboat believed to be bound for Taiwan.
Hoang and another minor were returned by China to Hong Kong on Dec. 30 while the other 10 were sentenced by a court in the neighboring mainland city of Shenzhen to between seven months and three years in jail for illegally crossing the border.
Their virtual incommunicado detention has drawn condemnation from rights groups and the West at a time of growing fears about the city’s high degree of autonomy.
Authorities have denied family and lawyers access to the 12, insisting they be represented by officially appointed lawyers. China has said their “legitimate rights” have been protected and their case was handled according to the law.
All of the 12 had faced charges in Hong Kong linked to an anti-government protest movement, including rioting and violation of a contentious national security law that China imposed in June 2020.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of freedoms not seen on the mainland, including freedom of speech and assembly. Democracy activists complain that Communist Party rulers in Beijing are whittling away at those freedoms, a charge China rejects.
Hoang, who did not apply for bail, is remanded in custody and his case will resume on Feb. 26. Prosecutors are looking into whether to press further charges, including absconding and conspiracy to aid criminals.
Hong Kong teenager returned by China appears in city court on protest-related charges
https://arab.news/m7667
Hong Kong teenager returned by China appears in city court on protest-related charges
- Hoang Lam Phuc part of a group of 12 captured at sea in August 2020 by Chinese authorities as they tried to flee Hong Kong
Pope names veteran Vatican diplomat as ambassador to the US to manage relations with Trump
- Italian Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, 68, is currently the Holy See’s ambassador to the UN
- He replaces French-born Cardinal Christophe Pierre
ROME: Pope Leo XIV on Saturday named a veteran Vatican diplomat as his new ambassador to the United States to manage one of the Holy See’s most important bilateral relationships at a crucial time, with ties strained over the Trump administration’s war in Iran and immigration crackdown.
Italian Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, 68, is currently the Holy See’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York. He replaces French-born Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who at age 80 is retiring as apostolic nuncio in Washington.
Caccia served as the Holy See’s ambassador to Lebanon and the Philippines before being posted to the UN in 2019. Ordained a priest in Milan in 1983, Caccia later served as “assessor” in the Vatican secretariat of state, a key administrative post in the Holy See’s most important office.
He inherits a complicated and consequential dossier on both the US church and state fronts at a time of global turmoil.
Pierre’s tenure as ambassador was notable for clear signs of friction between the leadership of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which tends to skew conservative, and the more progressive priorities of Pope Francis’ pontificate.
The relationship with the US and its church is crucial for the Holy See, not least because US Catholics are the most generous donors to the Holy See’s coffers.
Leo, history’s first US-born pope, is well aware of the dynamic, having served as Francis’ point man on bishop nominations for two years before his 2025 election. Leo has emphasized a message of pacification and unity in the church.
The first Trump administration clashed with Francis especially on migration, and that tension has continued in Leo’s pontificate and the second Trump term. Leo has repeatedly insisted that the Trump administration respect the human dignity of migrants, while acknowledging its right to its borders.
More recently, Leo has expressed “profound concern” about the US-Israeli war in Iran and urged both sides to “stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”
In comments last Sunday, Leo called for the resumption of diplomacy. Weapons, he said, only sow “destruction, pain and death.”
In a major foreign policy speech earlier this year, Leo also made clear he opposed the US aggressive use of military power, in an apparent reference to Washington’s incursion in Venezuela and threats to take Greenland. He denounced how nations were using force to assert their dominion worldwide and “completely undermine” peace and the post-World War II international legal order.
Caccia said in a statement Saturday he was humbled by Leo’s appointment and faith in naming him ambassador to his native country.
“I receive this mission with both joy and a sense of trepidation,” according to a statement reported by Vatican News. He said his was a mission “at the service of communion and peace,” recalling that this year marks the 250th anniversary of the US independence.
The current president of the US conference, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, welcomed Caccia’s appointment and offered the US hierarchy’s “warmest welcome and our prayerful support.”
The Holy See has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality, though Leo has spoken out strongly against the humanitarian toll of Israel’s military action in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
