Global Britain means Standing with Hong Kong

If Britain’s integrity fails the democrats of Hong Kong will bleed for it.

So long as Hong Kong remains free from the control of the Central Committee of the Communist Party it represents a threat to the tight control of the information space within mainland China.

Since the communists took power in 1949 Hong Kong has remained a site of dissent, free from mainland control, circulating contra-party books about Mao Zedong and publishing extensively following the suppression of Tiananmen in 1989. When in 1997 Britain withdrew from Hong Kong in the Sino-British handover treaty Britain and China both agreed to guarantee judicial freedom, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly under the ‘one state, two systems’ policy. It is for this reason, despite the absence of those freedoms on the mainland, that Hong Kong has persisted an island of dissent where matters surpassed on the mainland like Tiananmen can be discussed and the subject of public commemoration.¹ These Freedoms are however, increasingly under question as both British and international integrity diminishes and the CCP is emboldened.

Following the 1997 handover, borders between mainland China and Hong Kong loosened for the movement of people (and books) between. With that loosening-an unacceptable opening in the CCP’s tight domain of informational control. This was tolerated for the sake of economic benefit. However, efforts to clamp down on the circulation of sale of texts banned by CCP censors in Hong Kong escalated further with the disappearance of five prominent publishers from Hong Kong in 2015, some of whom appeared to give televised confessions on the mainland.² Such actions it seems quite apparent, represent the prelude to greater efforts to assert dominion over Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong people’s defiance of encroaching CCP influence and call for greater democratic freedom was seen around the world with the Umbrella revolution of 2014. The cause of their protest, that the the CCP sought the imposition of an electoral reform which would allow the central committee to screen all candidates. Then, as now, the protestors came out en masse facing police tear gas, triad gangs and accusations by the CCP that they were in fact Western organised. Whilst the proposed electoral reform was defeated the occupy movement did not achieve any major concessions from the government-it was waited out and defeated by police. The Chief executive of Hong Kong continued to be elected by only 6% of eligible voters and a significant proportion of the constituent Assembly remains filled with pro-Beijing lawmakers unelected by the Hong Kong people.³

Five Years on and the people of Hong Kong have once more been brought to the streets, though having learned a great deal from their failures in 2014. The Chief executive Carrie Lam’s proposed 2019 extradition bill brought forward would allow extradition to the mainland undermining the judicial independence of Hong Kong. It was widely understood by many to be the beginning of the death of Hong Kong autonomy. Yet, resistance to the bill has seen unprecedented uprising from the youth of Hong Kong, increasingly joined by other sectors of society continuing now for two months.⁴ The popularity of this uprising is hard to understate with between 240,000 and 1,000,000 taking to the streets on June 9th.⁵

In an ongoing series of escalations, government efforts to fastrack the legislation on June 12th saw the protestors lay siege to the LegCo (legislative council) building. On June 16th the Chief executive under immense pressure suspended the bill but few were convinced it was the end of the affair.⁶

The people of Hong Kong rightly fear that with a loss of momentum, the pro-Beijing legislature will eventually revive such efforts. As such, protests have continued through July calling for democratic reform with efforts to raise attention at the G20. On July 1st, the anniversary of the 1997 handover was marked again my massive turnout on the streets and the storming of the Legco building by protestors painting democratic slogans and waving the flag of British-Hong Kong before withdrawal.⁷

In a significant escalation of violence on July 21st a violent masked mob broke through barricades to brutally attack democratic protestors returning home from from Hong Kong to Yuen Long train station situated close to the the mainland.

The NYTimes Captures the moment police left Yuen Long as a Triad mob arrives on July 21st

Investigative journalism by the New York Times revealed how local police conspicuously departed, closed stations and failed to respond as armed local Triad thugs passed them on their way to beat Hong Kong people with bats and rods in the public station. This action was lauded by some on the mainland as the acts of patriotic loyalists defending law and order.

In the wake of Yuen Long the force of protests has only grown with fears of violence used as pretext for a PLA intervention growing. In the past days workers from the financial sectors have joined the protests as well as tens of thousands of civil servants.⁹

Protestors cast the Flag of the PRC into Victoria Harbour August 3rd (AP)

China’s state emblem is covered in black paint thrown by protesters outside the Chinese Liaison Office July 21st [BOBBY YIP/ASSOCIATED PRESS]

Of increasing concern now is that there exist stipulations in the handover treaty in which Hong Kong authorities may call upon the CCP military garrison in Hong Kong to restore order. Though the Chief executive has continually denied considering such an option, statements-or rather warnings-from the PRC Foreign Ministry have continually stressed that they could intervene to maintain order.¹⁰ There are growing indications that the CCP leadership are laying the groundwork for such a suppression in Hong Kong. Though they are fearful of international backlash and financial cost, the possibility of the example of Hong Kong spreading presents an existential challenge to the people’s dictatorship. The defacement of a Chinese Central Government office in Hong Kong and casting of the red party’s flag into Victoria Harbour cannot be tolerated.¹¹ A subsequent unusual shift in tact of broadcasting images of the protests across China has been interpreted by some as the state’s effort to prepare the public there for greater escalation-decrying the chaos caused by a minority of extremists.

Within the PRC the narrative of a Western backed conspiracy in Hong Kong is also increasingly proliferating repeating the narrative efforts of 2014. This view was propagated by the official statements of the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman that “As you all know, they are somehow the work of the US ”.¹² The immense restraint of the Hong Kong police is praised whilst their lack of resources to maintain order increasingly lays the groundwork for an intervention by the PLA military garrison in Hong Kong.¹³ As a prominent Op-Ed in the People’s Daily entitled The Authority of the Central Government Cannot be Challenged stressed “Nothing is more beneficial than stability, and nothing is more detrimental than chaos.” The PRC will, by necessity, portray the protestors of Hong Kong as a minority of violent extremists as a pre-requisite to suppressing their democratic voice-mirroring the strategies utilised by authoritarian regimes in the Middle East post-Arab uprisings.¹⁴

Further fleshing out the shape of things to come, this past week on August 1st at a celebration of the 92nd anniversary of the PLA, the Commander of the Hong Kong PLA garrison vocalised support for the Chief executive and police in Hong Kong before releasing this video. In the propaganda which speaks for itself the PLA demonstrates its readiness to suppress any resistance as rifles fire and soldier shouts in cantonese (Hong Kong dialect) “All consequences are at your own risk.”¹⁵ The message of the PLA garrison is clear and directed to Hong Kong; desist or face suppression and the restoration of order by any means necessary.

The PLA’s Hong Kong Garrison released this Propaganda film on its official Weibo Account August 1st

What then is to be done when the Hong Kong government refuses to give concession and chooses to call upon the PLA garrison?

Any hopes that the the WhiteHouse’s trade war against China would translate into concern for democracy in Hong Kong are misplaced. President Trump decades ago described the Tiananmen square democratic uprising as a “riot” praising the PRC’s actions then “Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”¹⁶ Reflecting the President’s more or less undeveloped worldview since the 1980s he described the democratic protests of students, unionist, the elderly, and civil servants as “riots” and has without reservation deferred Hong Kong to the PRC as an internal matter.¹⁷

Hong Kong’s demonstrators show no sign of giving up with more protests by Hong Kong’s unions organised in the upcoming days despite police bans and the increasing use of tear gas and other riot suppression tools.¹⁸ Who will stand with them when the PLA threatens another Tiananmen?

It falls now upon Britain, beleaguered in the midst of a massive crisis of national identity and democratic process to speak out. This is not merely a question of one liberal democracy standing against the quashing of democratic spirit by an authoritarian bully. Britain’s word and commitment to the rights of Hong Kong’s people are enshrined in the handover treaty. Should Britain turn its back on this not only will it hasten the likelihood of a brutal suppression in Hong Kong but it will hasten the decline of a sense of British integrity at home and around the world. A Stand with Hong Kong campaign has been launched in Britain and quickly organised to make the call loud and clear upon this new government to honour its commitments.

Stand With Hong Kong’s Billboard Campaign calling on Britain to act.

Boris Johnson for his part has said that he is in support of the protestors but much more is needed at the level of public diplomacy, pressure and through international apparatus.¹⁹ It is for many hard to fathom that the Union Jack decried symbol of an old Empire should come to represent for the people of Hong Kong a symbol of liberty and of resistance to the oppressive boot of the CCP. Perhaps at this moment we can set aside our own national flagellation and stand with those values which make Britain mean something.

¹https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-48607723

²https://www.france24.com/en/20181101-hong-kong-bookshop-peoples-books-banned-china-closes-censorship-xi-communist

³https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-48607723

⁴https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-49218723

⁵https://www.vox.com/world/2019/6/9/18658650/hong-kong-protest-march-china-extradition-bill-2019

⁶https://time.com/5607678/hong-kong-extradition-bill-suspended/

⁷https://time.com/longform/hong-kong-protests/

⁸https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/opinion/hong-kong-protests-triads-gang-china.html

⁹https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/hong-kong-civil-servants-join-protests-controversial-bill-190802155234438.html

¹⁰https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/01/hong-kong-protests-china-military-breaks-silence-to-warn-unrest-will-not-be-tolerate d

¹¹https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-lets-hong-kong-protest-images-circulate-to-whip-up-public-anger-11563793760

¹²https://www.vox.com/2019/8/1/20750037/hong-kong-protests-china-military-invasion

¹³https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/26/hong-kong-chinas-distorted-lens-chaos-enemy-people /

¹⁴https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/26/hong-kong-chinas-distorted-lens-chaos-enemy-people/

¹⁵https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/01/hong-kong-protests-china-military-breaks-silence-to-warn-unrest-will-not-be-tolerated

¹⁶https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/11/donald-trump-tiananmen-square-china-playboy-interview

¹⁷https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/trump-says-he-wont-give-advice-to-china-on-hong-kong-protests

¹⁸https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/01/hong-kong-protests-china-military-breaks-silence-to-warn-unrest-will-not-be-tolerated

¹⁹https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/08/01/hong-kong-protesters-call-boris-johnson-help-police-take-streets/?fbclid=IwAR1vFtquRtuJ_l0jRw1Quub5Ehv9GxsA8N7AIOvhArPlyimKE6WcroyHUww