The annual July 1 march took place in Hong Kong on Sunday to mark the 21st anniversary of Britain’s handover of the territory to China in 1997. The march, an important barometer of public sentiment in Hong Kong, has suffered from dwindling participation over the past few years, with turnout down again this year. The organizer, the Civil Human Rights Front, said 50,000 people attended, while the police put the figure at 9,800 — either way, they are the lowest figures on record.
The low turnout should not be mistaken as a sign that Hong Kongers are content with the current situation, or as an indication of political apathy. Instead, it is the inevitable consequence of a systematic effort by Beijing to interfere with Hong Kong’s domestic affairs and subvert its political and judicial independence, supposedly guaranteed under the Basic Law, the territory’s mini-constitution.
Four years after the “Umbrella movement,” the pushback by Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists appears to have come to an end. With Taiwan’s nine-in-one elections just around the corner, events in Hong Kong serve as a timely reminder of the bleak future Taiwan would face should its own pro-unification camp ever get its way.
Beijing has exerted its influence over Hong Kong through a puppet government led by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥). In an interview with the Financial Times, Lam gushingly said: “You may say that it’s shoe-shining, but I have to say I find [Chinese] President Xi Jinping [習近平] more and more charismatic and admirable.”
The run-up to this year’s march was a clear example of meddling by her administration.
First, an application to use Victoria Park as the starting point for the rally was rejected for the second year in a row. The space was instead given to the Hong Kong Celebrations Association, a pro-Beijing organization.
Second, prior to the march, Hong Kong police warned protesters they could be arrested if they joined the march mid-route. It is difficult to explain this away as anything other than a naked attempt by the authorities to intimidate and make it as difficult as possible for members of the public to participate.
The harassment of law-abiding marchers by the authorities fits a pattern of steadily deteriorating freedoms for the territory’s residents. Since the “Umbrella movement,” prominent pro-democracy student activists such as Nathan Law (羅冠聰) and Alex Chow (周永康) have been handed prison terms for unlawful assembly.
Meanwhile, pro-democracy and pro-independence activists were banned from running in the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election or, having contested and successfully won seats, were removed from office on spurious grounds relating to the “improper” taking of their oaths.
Then there are the five employees of a book publisher who were kidnapped by Chinese secret police and detained in China for selling books critical of the Xi regime. Another high-profile activist, Edward Leung (梁天琦), was last month handed a six-year jail sentence for his involvement in the 2016 Mong Kok “fishball revolution” on trumped-up rioting charges, which prompted criticism from the last governor of the British colony, Chris Patten.
All of this is a far cry from the promises Beijing made before the handover in 1997. Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework was supposed to guarantee Hong Kong’s political and economic systems would remain unchanged for 50 years.
At the time, Beijing intended for Hong Kong to serve as a shining model of good governance that could be sold to Taiwanese. Due to the monumental ineptitude and shortsightedness of China’s leaders, the reverse is now true and Hong Kong has become a chilling warning to all sane Taiwanese of the disaster that would befall the nation should the pro-China camp ever get its way.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry