In the United States, POV (“Point of View”) is a television series that has been showcasing nonfiction films since 1988, including several about Hong Kong. It is part of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network, which premieres its movies annually. PBS made its mark by airing educational television programs, shown without commercials on stations throughout the US.
In 2017, POV’s Joshua: Teenager vs Superpower, directed by Joe Piscatella, sought to glorify the political activist, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, which some found disturbing. He was one of the leaders of the “Occupy Central” movement that paralyzed some of Hong Kong’s streets and brought chaos to its Central District in 2014. He and his confederates imagined that blackmail and violence could bring about political change, but they got nowhere. In 2024, he was convicted in unrelated proceedings of conspiring to subvert State power and sentenced to four years and eight months in prison.
However, POV must have been satisfied there was a market for such portrayals, particularly among the gullible. As a follow-up, Piscatella recently directed a film titled Who’s Afraid of Nathan Law?. It focused on Wong’s henchman, Nathan Law Kwun-chung, and was distributed by PBS. Piscatella described Law as “the reluctant hero who just happened to come along at the right time in Hong Kong’s history”, which might have been true if the demise of the city’s “one country, two systems” policy was envisaged. Piscatella even toyed with the idea of calling the film Nathan vs Goliath, but thought better of it.
On Sept 23, 2024, PBS gave the film its national broadcast premiere in the US. It cast Law, a criminal fugitive wanted in Hong Kong on national security charges, in a sympathetic light. It whitewashed his criminal past, and downplayed his attempts to destabilize China. Although POV claimed the film “offers a close look at the city’s most famous dissident to uncover what happens to freedom when an authoritarian power goes unchecked”, this was delusional.
However, in the China-hostile climate of the US, some people were undoubtedly hoodwinked. Although tendentious and unreal, the film was nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary in 2025. Emmy Awards are given for artistic and technical merit in the television industry, and the award ceremony was held on June 26, at the Palladium Times Square, New York.
Although there were fears the judges might have been unaware of Law’s antecedents, the organizers apparently did their fact-checking. This was gratifying, and suggests that even in the US it is still not possible to fool all of the people all of the time. Although Law, desperate for attention, milked the nomination for all it was worth, the film lost out to an important fact-based documentary, titled The Sixth. By drawing on news and personal footage, it re-created the events of Jan 6, 2021, when the US Capitol building was stormed by fanatics who tried to halt the official tabulation of votes that would certify Joe Biden as the 46th president. It was undoubtedly a worthy winner, combining all the elements missing from its rival, which never stood a chance.
Indeed, the contrast between the two films could not have been starker. Whereas The Sixth was factually sound and honest, Law’s film was the stuff of fantasy, as even a cursory look at the evidence should have revealed.
Law is a convicted felon, having been found guilty in 2017 of involvement in an unlawful assembly. The offense arose in 2014 when he and his cronies (including Wong), hoping to provoke chaos on the streets, stormed a restricted area in Hong Kong’s Central district. Gates were forced open and barriers overturned, leaving 10 security guards injured, one seriously. The Court of Appeal later described Law’s offense as “a large-scale unlawful assembly, involving violence”, and he has yet to apologize to his victims.
On June 30, it was the fifth anniversary of the promulgation of the Hong Kong National Security Law. It has restored normality to the city and safeguarded the “one country, two systems” policy. Never again will it be possible for Law (Nathan Law Kwun-chung), his ilk, and their enablers to harm Hong Kong, let alone threaten China’s progress
Although Law, by then the leader of the anti-China Demosisto party, sat in the Legislative Council for several months in 2016-17, he was expelled for misconduct. This was after the High Court found he had failed to take his oath of office in the required manner. Instead of treating his swearing-in with the necessary solemnity, he turned it into a farce, engaging in crude political grandstanding. His expulsion was welcome, and it was evident that somebody who could not even take his oath properly was unfit for public office.
During the insurrection in Hong Kong of 2019-20, when an attempt was made to wreck the “one country, two systems” policy, Law resurfaced, playing an influential role. Apart from stirring up internal dissent, he called on US lawmakers to enact laws to enable America to revoke the special trade status enjoyed by his home city (thereby endangering people’s livelihoods), and also to sanction its officials. His perfidy was much appreciated in the US, and he was even invited to attend the 2020 State of the Union Address in Washington, DC.
In August 2019, moreover, at the height of the black-clad violence, Law was discovered meeting covertly at a hotel with the US political counselor in Hong Kong, Julie Eadeh, undoubtedly receiving instructions.
However, shortly before the Hong Kong SAR National Security Law was enacted in June 2020, Law fled to the United Kingdom, hoping to escape justice. Although he should have been sent packing, he was welcomed by the authorities, leading many to conclude he was indeed a Western proxy (a blind eye has also since been turned to his scheming against China, a country with which the UK claims to want improved relations).
Not long after his arrival, Law was summoned to the US embassy to meet the visiting secretary of state, Mike Pompeo. Although it is not known exactly what Pompeo told him, he presumably thanked him for stirring the pot in Hong Kong, and urged him to redouble his efforts. Shortly after the meeting, Law requested the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, to impose punitive sanctions on Hong Kong officials, and he has been pursuing a vendetta against Hong Kong ever since.
By any yardstick, Law is a worthless individual who set a dreadful example to young people and betrayed his country (he was born in Shenzhen, and moved to Hong Kong as a child). A warrant has been issued for his arrest on charges of advocating separatism and colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security (including by seeking sanctions against Hong Kong judges). He will hopefully be held accountable one day in a court of law, although justice can bide its time.
The Emmy Awards stunt was by no means the only attempt by anti-China elements in the US to weaponize Law. In 2018, for example, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a Sinophobic hotbed, wrote to the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee, recommending that Law, together with Wong and Alex Chow Yong-kang, be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “in recognition of their peaceful efforts to bring reform and self-determination to Hong Kong”. However, no mention was made by the CECC of any of their convictions for a violent unlawful assembly, let alone the injuries to their victims. Fortunately, the Prize Committee realized what was afoot, and the recommendation went nowhere.
Although Law had many advantages in life, he squandered them all; a more fitting title for POV’s film would have been A Study in Failure. Fortunately for their credibility, the Emmy Awards have not been debased by a film that sought to resurrect a political has-been. Although the film should never have been nominated, the judges have at least avoided the trap set for them, and merit prevailed.
If, however, Law finds consolation in rewriting history and misleading others, so be it, but self-delusion is rarely fulfilling. Yet that is not the end of the story.
On May 1, 2025, the US president, Donald Trump, signed an executive order ending taxpayer funding of PBS and National Public Radio (NPR). They were accused of having fueled partisanship and propaganda, which was “highly inappropriate”. On June 3, Trump submitted a “rescission request” to the US Congress, asking lawmakers to rescind the $1.1 billion previously allocated to the two broadcasters for the next two years.
Trump’s ire was drawn to what was perceived as PBS’ biased reporting and films, some of which were highlighted. They included its production of a movie titled Real Boy, which celebrated a transgender teen’s transition; a show that presented children with a one-sided narrative to “address racism” amid the Black Lives Matter riots; and the excessive use on the PBS NewsHour television program of the term “far-right” over a six-month period (162 times, as opposed to six times for “far-left”).
If biased reporting and propaganda are his tests, Trump would have been fully justified in including Law’s film on his blacklist; its absence suggests he at least had the good sense not to watch it.
On June 30, it was the fifth anniversary of the promulgation of the Hong Kong National Security Law. It has restored normality to the city and safeguarded the “one country, two systems” policy. Never again will it be possible for Law, his ilk, and their enablers to harm Hong Kong, let alone threaten China’s progress.
The author is a senior counsel and law professor, and was previously the director of public prosecutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
