Veteran Hong Kong trade unionist Lee Cheuk-yan told the court yesterday (18 March 2026) that witnessing the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown in Beijing was a defining moment, shaping what he described as “a lifelong commitment” to workers’ rights and democratic development.
Giving evidence in the ongoing national security trial of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Lee outlined his journey from engineering graduate to labour activist. Growing up in a relatively comfortable family, he said he had little awareness of poverty until visiting Hong Kong’s boat dwellers, where children lived in unsafe, deprived conditions. “I realised how unjust society could be,” he told the court, explaining why he abandoned engineering to dedicate himself to labour advocacy and social work.
Lee began at the Kwun Tong Industrial Health Centre in 1978, focusing on occupational safety, before moving into union organising and labour rights advocacy. He later founded the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, remaining active in Hong Kong’s labour movement for decades, “right up until imprisonment” following his arrest in 2021.
Tiananmen as “a baptism”
Recounting 3 June 1989, Lee said he stayed awake in a Beijing hotel as gunfire rang across the city and lights at Tiananmen Square went out. “I was worried about what was happening to the students,” he said. After assisting Hong Kong residents and journalists to leave, he was detained at the airport for two days before being released.
Lee described the experience as “a kind of baptism”. Witnessing the injured and the dead, and hearing accounts of the crackdown, deepened his sense of responsibility to “tell the world the truth”. He also recalled the public support he received from Hong Kong during his detention: “It was Hong Kong people who saved me. That strengthened my resolve to continue advocating for democracy in China and Hong Kong.”
“End one-party rule” under scrutiny
The trial centres on the Alliance’s long-standing call to “end one-party rule” in China, which prosecutors allege amounts to incitement to subversion. Lee rejected this, saying the slogan opposes authoritarian control, where legislative, executive, and judicial power is concentrated in a single party, along with restrictions on fundamental freedoms such as speech, assembly, and the press.
“We are not saying the Communist Party should not lead,” Lee told the court. “Whether it leads or not should be decided by the people.” He argued that civil rights must first be guaranteed so that civil society can emerge, allowing workers, students, and professionals to debate and determine an appropriate political system for China. “If people cannot even speak freely, how can there be meaningful discussion about democracy?”
Lee: Constitution meant to check the government, not silence the people
Lee rejected allegations that he harboured hostility towards the CCP or used the slogan “end one-party rule” to advocate the unconstitutional overthrow of the government. He told the court: “There is no hostility in my heart, only love.”
He said his actions were driven by concern for the people, and that calling on the authorities to respect democratic rights and human rights should not be interpreted as “hostility”.
Addressing claims that such advocacy was unconstitutional, Lee argued that “the constitution exists to constrain state authorities and the government, not the people”, and said he firmly rejected the charges against him.
Lee is standing trial alongside activist Chow Hang-tung. Both have pleaded not guilty to inciting subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. The trial has been adjourned until Friday. (20 March 2026)