Hong Kong: A Global Ideological Clash

by Enzo Reale (June 2020)

 

Hong Kong at Night, Tinyan Chan, circa 2000

 

restitution,” has become an integral part of its existence, the true material constitution of the region. Beijing’s attempt to introduce the National Security Bill in 2003, essentially a foretaste of the current confrontation, led to a massive popular reaction that resulted in the historic demonstration on July 1st and in the withdrawal of the measure after months of tension. But it was last year’s protests against the infamous extradition law that accelerated the showdown with the former British colony. The demonstrations, at times violent, have been considered in Zhongnanhai to be the most serious crisis since 1997, also due to the inability of the regime to deal with the flexible structure of the movement, without visible leaders, difficult to refer to the rigid control and repression schemes normally adopted. Not surprisingly, the proposal for the new national security law was preceded last month by the arrests of 15 dissidents, including Martin Lee, the eighty-one-year-old historic exponent of the democratic front, arrests that Beijing has directly linked to that wave of protests.

 

editorial the chaos caused by the latest demonstrations and the need to prevent “interferences of foreign forces in internal affairs.” According to the piece, thanks to the new legislation, “HK capitalism would begin to reveal the common traits it shares with developed societies rather than underdeveloped ones,” a statement that, applied to one of the main financial centers in the world, is a quite strange declaration of intent. But to understand exactly where the latest authoritarian grip comes from, we need to take a step back to May 8, when the government news agency Xinhua published an analysis with the eloquent title “Home-grown terrorism intertwined with separatism poses great threat to Hong Kong.” The article cites hand grenades, incendiary materials, dangerous chemical substances, relating them to recent unrest and concluding that “separatist forces advocating Hong Kong independence are becoming even more extreme.” The explicit inclusion of terrorism among the crimes that the new national security law will prevent is especially revealing. It is on charges of terrorism that the Communist regime justified the decade-long repression of political and religious claims in Muslim Xinjiang, up to the creation of the current system of internment camps for “re-education” against the Uyghur minority. This subsumption, which exceeds and expands the formula of the Basic Law, is completed by another key provision: local sections of the security agencies, directly dependent on the motherland, will be established “if needed.” That means the extension to Hong Kong of the police state already in force in the rest of China. It is no coincidence that Joshua Wong, another leading figure of the movement for democracy, focuses especially on this point: “This new secret police body will probably supersede Hong Kong government and police forces and launch secret arrests of all dissidents in the city, just like what they did to human rights defenders and dissidents in China“. The combination of these factors provides a disheartening overall picture for the Special Administrative Region prospects of freedom, effectively and legally dismissing the formula “one country, two systems.” A formula, however, already largely emptied of content due to the institutional mechanisms through which Beijing has always guaranteed control of political activity in the “rebel” territory, heavily conditioning in its favor the election of the members of the Legislative Council and imposing the local Executive Chief, a simple emanation of the Communist Party. Carrie Lam, who currently holds that place, immediately lavished praise for the new legislation that certainly, from her point of view, will avoid many of the headaches that have characterized her mandate to this date. The mess of the extradition law, the obvious shortcomings in the management of protests and the need to please her bosses make her the emblem of the ongoing crisis. Even if she was seen applauding and smiling at the full session of the National Assembly, Carrie Lam is a lame duck that the regime will sacrifice without any scruples when it deems timely.

 

In sum, Xi Jinping has decided to close the Hong Kong issue once and for all. In doing so, he sent a blunt message, directed—as always—to a multiplicity of recipients:

 

• one country, two systems” model, which has now revealed its true face. For the first time the adjective “pacific” has disappeared from official documents in reference to the reunification of the island with the continent;
• internal issues” is phony.

   

  announced the revocation of the former British colony’s “special status” under U.S. law. In Hong Kong, 1,300 American companies are operating right now.

   

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  Enzo Reale is an Italian journalist living in Barcelona who writes about international politics. His articles have appeared in Atlantico Quotidiano, New English Review, L’Opinione, and Il Foglio and he is the author of 1972 (I posti della ragione erano tutti occupati). You can follow him on Twitter at @1972book.

  NER on Twitter @NERIconoclast