Recently, a Hong Kong activist who fled overseas to skip bail and avoid the trial for an offense under the National Security Law for Hong Kong (NSL) remarked to the BBC that the city is now a “place of fear”. The broadcaster, which has repeatedly taken aim at the NSL over the past three years, has persistently sought to frame Hong Kong’s situation in a negative light following the violent unrest that plagued the city in 2019-20, rubbishing the idea that “foreign collusion” played a part within it. In recognizing such events and their legacy, it is worth reminding ourselves that peace, stability and security has been restored to Hong Kong.
Although Hong Kong is guaranteed a “high degree of autonomy” in terms of political, economic, social and legal arrangements, since the handover in 1997 it has nonetheless been constitutionally a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, and as the Basic Law specifies, the central government is responsible for foreign affairs and defense relating to Hong Kong because for all intents and purposes, it is Chinese sovereign territory that has a designated special status, and is constitutionally subject to the National People’s Congress as the ultimate legislative authority of China.
However, on Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997, the provision of the Basic Law that called for a national security law was not in fact implemented. Such national security laws are in fact commonplace in Asia. The law of Singapore, for one, is much harsher than China’s, whereas the national security law of South Korea is also designed to secure the sovereignty of the state. However, the inability of the Hong Kong authorities to implement this legislation created a loophole that allowed the territory to be subject to foreign political influence, both diplomatically and financially in a way that could advance the agendas of other states.
The US National Endowment for Democracy, for one, had free rein in funding various activities and movements that might be described as “anti-State activities” with the goal of undermining Chinese sovereignty over the territory. Similarly, the territory faced a crisis of its own identity as it struggled to come to terms with its own Chinese belonging. Therefore, in 2019, when the US began to pivot its foreign policies against China, certain figures in Hong Kong took the opportunity to provoke an uprising that led to a series of violent riots and conflict against the police. These events would see wholescale destruction of public infrastructure and property, vandalism, and an attempt to economically shut down the city.
Hong Kong is back on its feet, and it is not unreasonable for those responsible to be held accountable for the foreign-backed insurrection
As the riots were underway, their leading figures actively and openly collaborated with the highest level of American officialdom to push their agenda. Joshua Wong Chi-fung, among others, traveled to the US and testified before the US Congress, meeting figures such as Senator Marco Rubio and then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi, whereas Jimmy Lai Chee-ying met with the then-secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, then-vice-president Mike Pence, and then-US national security adviser John Bolton. The Western media enjoy dismissing the subject of “collusion” as a paranoid fantasy, but it was very much real, and only worsened by the scores of other US politicians who openly cheered the events and praised them as an honorable struggle for “democracy”.
One has to ask: Would any country in the world tolerate this? In the United Kingdom, for one, you just have to see how scores of “stop oil” protesters are being imprisoned for attacking public property and infrastructure and attempting to disrupt transport. The Hong Kong riots were, however, much worse than the mere spraying of orange paint on shop windows because it actually amounted to an insurrection against the government. This led to the promulgation of the NSL, which was seen as a greater good. Since then, life in Hong Kong has returned to normal, and the international competitiveness or shine of the international financial center has not been diminished.
Having seen Hong Kong during the peak of the riots, and then having returned following the COVID-19 pandemic, I have seen the difference, and it brings back many memories of this wonderful city. How can those seeking to pit it against its own country, provoke chaos, and initiate violence and unrest, possibly be seen as supporting the greater good? Hong Kong is back on its feet, and it is not unreasonable for those responsible to be held accountable for the foreign-backed insurrection.
The author is a British political and international relations analyst.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
