2022: Hong Kong — more than just territory

11 January 2022

As China tightens its grip over political and civic institutions, Hong Kong seems to have been left to fend for itself by the international community.

Here, 9DASHLINE invites a select group of experts to identify some wider concerns and avenues of support for the city-state fighting to maintain its democracy.

KEEP SHINING A LIGHT ON WHAT IS HAPPENING IN HONG KONG

Ryan Ho Kilpatrick — Reporter at Taiwan Plus News

It is always darkest before dawn. At least that is what protesters would tell each other between the volleys of tear gas in 2019. Yet since then, it has only gotten darker. The opposition is either in jail or in exile. The biggest pro-democracy news sources have all been shuttered. Predetermined elections, in which no democrats stood and the vast majority of citizens did not vote, have delivered a rubber-stamp legislature that will obediently pass more laws dismantling Hong Kong’s way of life.

Is democracy in Hong Kong now a lost cause? It is worth remembering that the cause of a democratic Hong Kong was not born in 2019 or 2014. It has persisted for decades, passed from generation to generation through waves of social upheaval and political change.

So far, sanctions against Hong Kong and Central Government officials responsible for this crackdown have not succeeded in reversing it. But this represents just one tool in a set that also includes freezing assets, offering safe harbour to exiles, and standing firm against Beijing’s other domestic abuses and its threats against Taiwan and other sovereign nations.

For any Hongkonger who remains in the territory or wishes to safely return to see loved ones — myself included — to offer any foreign country counsel on what steps should be taken to punish Hong Kong authorities or defend our fellow citizens is to invite persecution under the National Security Law and, inevitably, jail or exile.

For that reason, I will do no more than to urge them to keep shining a light on what is happening in Hong Kong and to warmly welcome newcomers and offer them a permanent, stable home and full political rights as soon as possible. They will be hard-pressed to find people more engaged, resilient, and devoted to the principles of a free society.

The cause of democracy in Hong Kong will never be lost as long as they live and breathe — both those who made the courageous decision to stay in their beloved home and find new ways to keep hope burning and those who made the equally courageous decision to move abroad and resist the encroaching darkness from unfamiliar lands.

THE WEST NEEDS A COMMON WILL

Sari Arho Havrén — European China Policy Fellow at the Mercator Institute of China Studies, MERICS in Berlin, and visiting researcher at the University of Helsinki.

The Chinese Communist Party won’t back down from its hardening authoritarian rule unless it sees that it is truly in its best interest to do so. Given the West’s inability to stand with Hong Kong when Beijing started eroding free society and liberties, the momentum was lost. We have moved into a slower game where Hong Kong has become an artefact of Beijing’s need to safeguard its interests and power.

China is seeking to divide Western alliances by using a multifaceted toolbox. This toolbox should be met with reciprocity. Brussels, for instance, has been trying to draw legislation to make its companies respect human rights better, but without unanimity, these initiatives fall short. In addition to such legislations, the West does not lack tools to respond, but rather a common will to defend the values that the majority of Hongkongers share.

In most areas, Beijing’s interests confront those of the Western democracies. The West can best contain China’s authoritarianism by uniting and strengthening its own independent institutions, and eventually by cooperating, especially economically, with only those who respect the same rules. The other alternative would be to allow Beijing to bend those rules to extend its authoritarian model even wider.

Beijing effectively uses its economic power to silence critics and this must be fought back even at the risk of some short term costs. China’s continuous rise won’t happen without its ties to the outside world, and this alone gives enormous leverage. Sadly, most of the Western world is still living in a stage of economic predatory delay, and once they wake up, it will be too late, exactly as it has happened with Hong Kong. While the West debates with itself whether to be Beijing’s partner or a rival, those awake must continue giving a voice to those who have lost it.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE IS NOT SUSTAINABLE WITHOUT ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Leïla Choukroune — Professor of International Law and Director of the University of Portsmouth (UK)

Long praised for the quality of their research and teaching, Hong Kong Universities are facing their most challenging crisis that is questioning their very existence as autonomous and independent scientific bodies. The British never gave democracy to their former colony but did plant its seeds in creating a unique system of education and justice. This is now collapsing.

A pro-China education logic had been institutionalised since the 1997 retrocession, but Article 137 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) guaranteed academic autonomy and freedom. With the now infamous National Security law and Beijing’s demand to have the text included in Hong Kong’s Universities’ curriculum, the Basic Law, and the rule of law it guaranteed, have become mere fiction.

Chapter II, Article 10 of the National Security Law, indeed stipulates that “The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall promote national security education in schools and universities and through social organisations, the media, the internet and other means to raise the awareness of Hong Kong residents of national security and of the obligation to abide by the law”.

Even if some procedural autonomy remains for the eight University Grants Committee (UGC) publicly funded bodies — assuming that while the Chief executive of the HKSAR is their Chancellor, he is not involved in their daily management — universities are de facto governed by a climate of fear. This ultimate weapon generates sufficient self-censorship to avoid more repressive methods.

The yearly remembrance of the Tiananmen massacre, the 2014 Occupy Hong Kong, and the Umbrella Movement was largely supported by academics and students and so were the opposition demonstrations to the National Security Law. Several of them have been sacked, arrested, and imprisoned over the years. As demonstrated by Hong Kong University’s removal of the highly symbolic “Pillar of Shame” in December 2021, there is no room for dissent in academic environments.

What will be the impact of limited or non-existing freedoms for academic teaching and research? Contrary to what Beijing seems to believe, there is a great impact on scientific quality when resources and expressions are constrained. This is as much evidenced in the sciences as in the humanities. Academic freedom is guaranteed by several Constitutions including in Germany, the UK, and France. Freedom is never absolute but remains vital to the production and dissemination of knowledge. What happens in Hong Kong should be monitored by all academics and democratic governments alike to protect scientific quality and innovation.

DISCLAIMER: All views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent that of the 9DASHLINE.com platform. Image credit: Flickr/Studio Incendo.