De Lima reiterates support for Hong Kong; likens China to a ‘sea slug’

Detained Senator Leila de Lima on Saturday reiterated her support for pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, claiming that China was similar to a sea slug that feeds on its own neighbors to satisfy its hunger for territory.

The senator released the statement as China eyes the imposition of a national security law in the city after a year of protests against a measure that aimed to allow extradition to mainland China.

De Lima cited American civil war writer Edmund Wilson's definition of a sea slug as "a primitive organism" that "gobbles up small organisms through a large orifice at the one end of its body."

“Sea slug states will try to gobble up everyone in its path. And as each victim falls, the sea slug grows, if not in morals and legitimacy, but surely it grows ever drunker with ideations of conquest and world domination," De Lima said.

She added that the proposed security law aimed to stamp out protests in the country and would ban "any acts of activities" that supposedly endangered China's national security.

It would also allow "national security agencies" to operate in the city.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, however, has said that the law would not violate anyone's freedoms and rights.

According to De Lima, people from across the world should fight against "a sea slug that seeks to overpower and dominate."

"Fight to defend democracy in Hong Kong, in Taiwan, and in the Philippines. Fight for us so that we can fight for you and with you,” she said.

De Lima called on the Filipino public to also stand with Hong Kong and to fight for Philippine freedom, saying that this is being threatened by the current administration.

“We must fight in order to secure for ourselves and our posterity the blessings of independence and democracy," De Lima said. — DVM, GMA News