HONG KONG – On Friday, a leading activist associated with Hong Kong’s long-standing vigil memorializing the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown clarified that her group’s call to “end one-party rule” was intended as a push for democratization, rather than a demand to dismantle the Communist Party’s leadership in China.

Chow Hang-tung, previously at the helm of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, defended her stance in court. Her trial is part of a broader application of a national security law that has significantly stifled dissent within the city.

Chow’s legal troubles began in September 2021 when she was charged with inciting subversion under the security law that Beijing enacted after the large-scale anti-government protests of 2019. Prosecutors have accused her of encouraging others to engage in activities aimed at undermining state power through illegal means.

In a related case, Lee Cheuk-yan, another former leader of the alliance, entered a plea of not guilty to similar charges on Thursday. The charges leveled against him also carry a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The courtroom proceedings have sparked a broader debate over the implications of the phrase “ending one-party rule,” which some argue is a call for reform rather than a direct challenge to the existing political structure.

The prosecution has focused on “ending one-party rule,” one of the alliance’s core demands, by arguing the alliance’s call meant ending the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership, which was against the constitution. There was no legal means to achieve that, it said.

Chow, a barrister who is defending herself, countered the prosecution claim Friday while appealing to the court to admit an expert’s evidence, standing outside the courtroom dock while presenting her argument.

“The alliance’s position is not to end the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership, but to end one-party dictatorship,” said Chow, who smiled when supporters in the courtroom wished her well for her birthday on Saturday.

The court heard on Thursday that co-defendant Albert Ho said in 2018 that the call was not to eliminate the Chinese Communist Party and the party could maintain its ruling position through fair elections. Ho pleaded guilty Thursday, which could result in a reduced sentence.

Calling to build ‘a democratic China’

For 30 years, the Hong Kong Alliance organized the only large-scale public commemoration of the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy protests within China. The vigil in Hong Kong drew tens of thousands each year to remember the victims with a sea of candles until authorities banned the event during the COVID-19 pandemic. The alliance also called for “building a democratic China.”

The group voted to disband in September 2021 after its leaders were prosecuted under the security law, which Beijing deemed necessary for the city’s stability following the protests.

After the pandemic, the former vigil site was occupied instead by a carnival organized by pro-Beijing groups on June 4, the crackdown’s anniversary.

Observers say the disappearance of the symbolic spectacle was an indicator of the decline in freedoms in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and is now administered as a “special administrative region.”

Despite a degree of autonomy signified by the designation, Beijing has increasingly made its presence known in the way it oversees the territory, while Hong Kong’s government said its law enforcement actions were evidence-based and strictly in accordance with the law.