Hong Kong's Decline into Tyranny

Unlike the frog slowly boiled in water which does not realise that anything untoward is happening, things are changing so fast in Hong Kong that people are only too aware. The slippery slope to tyranny has recently proved to be both steep and very slippery since the Mainland Chinese overlords broke their promise, made in 1997, that no significant changes would take place in the former British colony turned ‘special administrative region’ (SAR) for at least 50 years. This was the co-called ‘one country, two systems’ which would ensure political and legislative freedom for Hong Kong and the right to maintain its own international links. China’s broken promise means that a record 290,000 people left in in the first half of 2023 meaning that half a million people had left since 2021.

China, which exercises tight control over the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo), moved early after the handover to increase its control over the population with the proposed Article 23 to the Hong Kong constitution seeking to implement greater state security, meaning restrictions to freedom and harsher punishments for those who criticise the state. There were massive protests in 2003, then the famous ‘umbrella movement’ protests in 2014, both of which were peaceful. However, in 2019 there were violent clashes between protesters and the police, specifically over proposals to ‘extradite’ Hong Kong dissidents to Mainland China for prosecution. The COVID-19 crisis could not have come soon enough for China as, despite it slowing down implementation of Article 23, this surely helped to keep people off the streets. A period of reflection, in the aftermath of the 2019 riots, has clearly led to renewed enthusiasm for Article 23 and the LegCo has come off the blocks with a vengeance.

Since Covid restrictions were lifted in Hong Kong, considerably later than most of the rest of the world, the Chinese Government has moved apace to strengthen its grip on the legislative processes in the SAR. The LegCo is responsible for implementing Article 23, but this should not pose a problem as the Chief Executive of the LegCo, currently John Lee, is appointed by the Chinese Government and all members of the LegCo are approved by Beijing. In fact, all candidates in elections, including district elections, must now be approved by Beijing. The result has been a dramatic lack of participation by the voters of Hong Kong down to a new low of 23% in the most recent elections. Previous turnouts have been over 70%.

As a periodic visitor to Hong Kong, what is happening seems less like a slippery slope than a series of step changes. Each time I return colleagues, mainly the expatriate ones like me, recount fresh horrors such as their primary school children being taught mandatory lessons in ‘the nation’s achievements under the Chinese Communist Party’. There are weekly flag raising ceremonies of the Chinese and Hong Kong flags at educational institutes, including universities, which staff and students must attend (expatriates are excused) with suspension of students who are disrespectful.

Use of and proficiency in English has declined since the handover, some say aided and abetted by China which, despite the numbers learning English there, has itself been turning its back on English language. There is certainly some suspicion about English language teaching being used as an opportunity to spread dissent and, of course, declining use of English helps to undermine the international status of the once bilingual entrepôt, thus increasing its dependence on China.

Having just returned from a short visit to Hong Kong, I get the distinct impression that this is the last time I will see the place prior to the implementation of Article 23. This week the LegCo has been fully occupied with debating the new security measures which will see much harsher penalties for any activities considered to threaten the security of Hong Kong including life imprisonment for insurrection and treason. Such is the pressure from China to implement Article 23 that the LegCo has fast-tracked the legislation and conducted both first and second readings of the bill within hours of its latest manifestation being tabled.

There is no effective opposition to the bill from within the LegCo. Dissenting members such as Leung ‘Long Hair’ Kwok-hung have long since been prevented from standing. Long Hair has frequently been in prison. There has been some straining at legislative gnats over wording. Regina Ip, a former Secretary of State for Security and no stranger to criticism over her own enthusiasm for Article 23, has queried the nature of “external forces” mentioned in the bill. Her query is around the vagueness of the term and what it includes when the use of “foreign forces” would have been clearer. However, the explanation is undoubtedly that Beijing wishes the legislation to cover Taiwan which, while it is ‘external’ to Hong Kong is not considered ‘foreign’ in the eyes of China. Ip favours simply naming Taiwan in the Bill.

Along with the unseemly haste with which implementation of Article 23 is being pursued, the accompanying rhetoric is being ramped up. Offenders jailed under security laws can forget about early release; decisive action is needed to “eradicate ‘causes of chaos’ and ‘evil’ forces”; new offences have been created among the 39 included in the bill; and the burden of proof, once accused, will rest with the defendant.

The run up to the handover provided material for novelists Paul Theroux and John Burdett. Theroux in Kowloon Tong envisaged public executions at the Happy Vally racecourse and Burdett envisaged in The Last Six Million Seconds that the handover would provide the opportunity for an horrific crime the investigation into which would be hampered by the Chinese police. The immediate aftermath of the handover was a considerable anti-climax for such catastrophists as, at least for the first few years, nothing significant happened. Burdett’s novel was a work of fiction, and the handover was merely used to frame another of his gruesome crime novels. Theroux was undoubtedly making a point in his novel. But for how much longer will it remain a work of fiction?

John MacNab teaches at a university in Hong Kong.

Stop Press: The South China Morning Post reports that residents may need to have a “reasonable excuse” if they have saved old publications later deemed seditious, according to Hong Kong’s Security Chief. He made the comments to lawmakers scrutinising the city’s Domestic Security Bill after being asked if it will be a criminal offence to keep copies of the now defunct Apple Daily tabloid.