The Chinese national flags and the regional flags of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are seen in Hong Kong on October 1, 2021.Photo: CFP

A secessionist group on the island of Taiwan reportedly plans to sell self-made calendars that are composed of distorted history and content smearing the Chinese mainland, the Communist Party of China, Hong Kong and Macao. Local legal experts have warned that selling these calendars in Hong Kong will violate the law.  

A local organization from the island called TLF-Youth is behind these calendars. But these calendars are mired in falsifications including whitewashing the rioting activities that occurred at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University during the social unrest in Hong Kong in 2019. The sellers of the calendars are also planning to ship them to buyers in Hong Kong and Macao, Hong Kong media outlet Sing Tao Daily reported on Monday. 

According to the organization, part of the revenues from selling the calendars will be donated to a restaurant in Taiwan that previously hired some anti-government rioters who fled from Hong Kong. 

Each calendar is sold at NT$932($33). They are claiming that they have received over NT$500,000 deposits in preorders from over 500 subscribers, the Hong Kong newspaper said, citing a person in charge from the secessionist group. 

The person also said the group plans to ship the products to Hong Kong and Macao starting from December. 

The Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department told the Global Times on Monday that it has been working closely with the national security department of the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) and will continue enhancing the risk evaluation and information analysis. It will also continue cross checking all the items allegedly endangering national security and stop them from entering Hong Kong, including guns, small-scale weapons and other strategic items.

The secessionist group TLF-Youth also published a cartoon smearing the HKPF during the riots in Hong Kong. The cartoon depictured how a rioter had successfully hidden her identity and became one of the police officers and then killed some officers for the "social movement." The depiction instigated anti-police sentiments and lone-wolf style attacks. 

Selling these calendars would violate the offense of seditious intention under the Crimes Ordinance, as the items could bring hatred or contempt or excite disaffection against the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, Lawrence Ma, barrister and chairman at Hong Kong Legal Exchange Foundation, told the Global Times on Monday.

By citing Elizabeth Quat, a lawmaker from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, Sing Tao Daily also warned that sellers and buyers of the calendars could also allegedly violate the national security law for Hong Kong, as the items clearly instigate hatred, which belongs to terrorist activities.