The former chairman of the Angling Action Committee (also known as Luo Jiu), who is the owner of the vessel, took the Hong Kong government to court 11 years ago because he was dissatisfied with the ban on the vessel’s sailing, and lost the case and refused to pay over a million dollars in legal fees. The case is scheduled to be heard on March 10 next year. Law will not comment on whether the Hong Kong government has a political purpose in pursuing the debt when it is on a rampage to suppress social activists, but he has made it clear that he is ready to be ruled bankrupt by the court and live a “hard life” for four years.
Law is the owner of the “Kai Fung II” (i.e. the “Diaoyu”). In 2006, he was forced to return to the Diaoyu Islands after the Japanese Coast Guard sent seven boats to intercept the vessel and the engine cooling water pipe was ruptured.
He said to the station that the lawyer’s fee for that year was about 1.15 million Hong Kong dollars (the same below, equivalent to about 123,000 euros), and he had made it clear at the time that he would not pay the lawyer’s fee derived from the Hong Kong government’s unreasonable action, after which the Department of Justice staff verbally chased the debt, and only in recent months the external private law firm issued a letter to chase the debt, and the amount involved increased to 1.76 million yuan, the difference of more than 500,000 yuan should be the interest.
He did not speculate why the Hong Kong government only formally filed for his bankruptcy after 11 years of recovery, but said that the authorities are now “haphazardly suing” anti-revisionists, so the Department of Justice is too busy to personally file for his bankruptcy, but to outsource to a private law firm to act on his behalf.
The Committee has decided last month to dismantle the tilt of the fishing boat, tomorrow (12) day will hold a press conference, so that the public “look at the remains”, but because still owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to the shipping company, dismantling costs must also be advanced by the shipping company, simply can not repay the government’s legal fees, Luo even made it clear that, not to say that there is no money, even if there is money, would rather buy a boat to set off to the sovereignty dispute Diaoyutai Islands to declare China’s sovereignty.
Once the court rules that Law is bankrupt, his personal assets will be used to pay off his debts, and any shortfall will be deducted from his income over the next four years, leaving only the money for him to maintain basic living expenses. Unless his creditors object, his bankruptcy order will be automatically discharged after four years and he will be able to resume his normal life. Law has made it clear that he is prepared to live a life of hardship for four years.
Luo, 71, is an avid social activist who has petitioned in Beijing and is now a member of the Civil Radio, the Social Democratic Link and the Angling Committee. He has taken a boat three times into the waters of the Diaoyutai Islands, which are disputed by China and Japan, and in 2012, Zeng Jiancheng, who was on the same boat, successfully landed on the island.
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