Chinese Takeout

It’s the story of very unfortunate people who were and are persecuted in old Hong Kong. For many years, privilege has been taken away from them when they called for civil rights.

It is a sad feature of contemporary affairs that chapters of history are being erased and human rights groups and people are being eliminated in increasing  degree and freedom  of expression and freedom of speech is limited.

It comes as little surprise that the Russian Supreme Court on December  27, 2021 ordered the closure of the human rights group Memorial, the most prominent rights group in post-Stalinist Russia, and that the country has imposed more censorship of independent media, and arrests of supporters of Alexei Navalny. On the following day, a Moscow court also said the Memorial Human Rights Center would have to close after failing to declare itself  as a “foreign agent.” The court ruled the Center had justified extremism, by giving legal aid to opposition figures and to those   who “build a negative attitude towards Russia’s legal system.”

Memorial, founded in 1989 by political dissidents including Andrei  Sakharov, was accused of failing to mark its publications with the label of “foreign agent, ” and of denigrating the memory of the Soviet Union.  Memorial was the group that every year organized a memorial for the thousand killed by Stalinist repression, with protestors gathering around a large stone in central Moscow  brought from a Soviet gulag, in the Solovky islands.  Russian authorities regard it as a focal point for criticism by Russians and foreign governments to deny pride in the achievements of the Soviet Union.

These court decisions come at a moment when a  revival  of praise of Stalin is taking place, with erection of statues and busts of him, when  there is removal  of information about Soviet crimes of the  past, and of NKVD officers who signed deportation and execution orders  during the years of the great terror, 1937-1938, and  were responsible for the deaths of more than 18 million from hunger, cold, illness, forced labor in the Gulags. The cult of a desirable Stalin has been exhibited in public opinion polls, especially of younger people who vote for Stalin as the person in history who best represents Russia. It borders on the mysterious that the cruel tyrant is most heralded as the wise leader who won the Great Patriotic war.

The assertion of Chinese aggressiveness and control over people in Hong Kong is less mysterious but increasingly disturbing now that  it has imposed a new national security law on the area, giving authorities power to deal with acts of secession,  subversion,  terrorism, or collusion  with foreign  or external  forces. Supposedly an action to return stability to Hong Kong, it is in essence   an imposition of stricter authoritarianism. The reality is that Beijing does not want Hong Kong to be a model for any Chinese city.

Hong Kong, with its valuable deep harbor, became a British colony in 1841 after the first Opium War and remained  that except during World War II , until July 1, 1997 when at a peaceful  ceremony the colony was handed to the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong  became a special  administrative region of China.

In 1984 the Sino-British  joint  declaration signed in Beijing  stated  that the UK would agree to China exercising  sovereignty over Hong Kong in1997. It agreed the  social and economic system  and  legal system would remain basically  unchanged , and that it  would  retain its status as a  free port,  and international trade and financial center.  The two nations agreed on a  policy of  “one country, two systems,”  this was a concept devised by Chinese leader Deng  Xiaopinhng.  The People’s Republic of China would remain a socialist system, while Hong Kong and Taiwan would continue under the capitalist system.  Hong Kong was supposed to  retain its legislative, executive , and independent judicial powers system and people’s  rights for 50 years, and China would control foreign affairs as well as interpretation of Hong Kong  basic law. Britain accepted the one country formula. believing that Hong Kong  would supposedly enjoy  a high degree of autonomy for 50 years, making its own  laws with its own legal system. But China has been exercising more control over Hong Kong policy and authorities.

It is protests about the basic law, and proposed changes in the electoral system, that led to street protests, especially with the Umbrella Movement in September- December 2014, which was opposed by police use of  tear gas and pepper spray. In summer 2019 large protests occurred with the introduction of a  China  endorsed legislative proposal that would have allowed  extradition to mainland China.

On June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square became the token place for large scale protests calling for more political freedom. Thousands of people occupied the space until  military, troops and tanks, moved in and fired on the crowd.  Estimates vary, officially the number of killed was given of 200 civilians and some security officials, but more realistic estimates vary up to 10,000. As a memorial, a statue was created by Danish architect Jens  Galaschiot in 1997, a  26 foot pillar of  human figures in agony and twisted bodies pressed together. Called the Pillar of Shame, it  has an inscription, “the old cannot kill the young forever,” reminder of a shameful event that must never recur.

In subsequent  years  an annual candlelight vigil  commemorating the incident had been allowed, and students in an  annual ceremony demonstrated around the statue, until  Hong Kong authorities banned this in  2020, citing restrictions due to Covid-19. On December 22, 2021 this statue at the University of Hong Kong was removed as a result of Chinese pressure because of  political dissent.

The relationship of parties is uncertain, Chinese officials do not directly control Hong Kong as they do in the mmainland, but they exert influence  through those loyal to China who control political affairs. All political changes  need approval of the Chinese National People’s Congress as well as by the Hong Kong government. Charges of terrorism and sedition or  “incitement to subversion”  are being  improperly used by China  to limit Hong Kong rights.

On July 1, 2020 , Hong Kong  authorities introduced  a national security law that  was  devised by Beijing.  It makes    any dissent criminal,  and gives authorities broad power to deal with “acts of secession’ subversion, termism, or collusion with foreign or external forces.”  it provides for China to establish a security force in HK, and ability to influence the choice of judges who hear national security cases. Hong Kong authorities prevented critical candidates from running in the 2020 legislative elections, which was postponed. Police arrested pro -democracy activists.  The educational system  has introduced so called “patriotic” programs.

The increasing controls over Hong Kong are new examples of  China’s aggressive policy in projecting its power in the world,  a policy which is a major issue for President Joe Biden and both  political parties. New American policies are necessary to deal with those increasing assertions:  China’s claims to own the  waters in  the South China Sea, where it is building  new islands on  existing reefs, and transforming them    into military bases;  the ambitious Belt and Road initiative plans to build  transport and infrastructure projects from homeland to  Rotterdam, Africa and Latin America. China has the world’s largest navy, 355 ships and submarines , compared with the U.S. 296 warships,  the UK  69, and Russia  295, and   it is  preparing a   new   high technological     aircraft carrier. On Christmas Eve 2021, China launched three warships in one day.  Economically, China accounts for almost 20% of the  world’s GDP, and its economy, which has recovered well from the pandemic,  is growing at about a 6% level.  Ironically, though is interfering politically and legally  in Hong Kong, it does not appear to  interfere in  economic transections, from which  Morgan Stanley and  Goldman Sachs benefit.

Will the West responds by providing safe havens for HK residents in their countries, by  offering  visas for  those who  want to become Western citizens,  imposing sanctions on China, and suspending extradition treaties?.