Hong Kong: from Political Haven to Fishing Village

In the twenty-four years that Hong Kong has been returned to the Beijing authorities, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has succeeded in tearing apart the rule of law and freedoms that the British government spent nearly a century years building up. This was made blatantly clear in the recent political judgment against forty-seven activists, politicians, and journalists, many of them—such as democracy activist Joshua Wong and media tycoon Jimmy Lai—are internationally renowned. As Beijing rehashes past playbooks on achieving submission through fear, the authorities are reducing Hong Kong to its former status as a fishing village of little significance.

But will Hong Kongers be cowed? And what is the significance of Hong Kong’s fate for the rest of the world?

Looking back at the history of the CCP’s rule, a repetitive variation on a theme of violent repression emerges every few years, wherein the blood and tears exacted from critics become the means to incite general fear in the population, thereby ensuring the regime’s continued authoritarian rule. And from the perspective of the regime, the “violence equals submission” equation is solid: from the Anti-Rightist campaigns of the 1950s to 1989, frequent crackdowns have proven temporarily effective in achieving the goal of control.

With an eye to influencing a mass audience, the method often targets a select group of individuals. This was the case with the 709 Crackdown, a nationwide sweep of human rights activists and lawyers in 2015. Designed to shut down remnants of the Rights Defense Movement that had taken root more than a decade earlier, the use of the legal system to persecute and suppress lawyers, in particular, made a mockery of the genuine work they were doing to advance society through the law. Many were forced to make public confessions, and, when released, suffered the long-term effects of confinement and torture.

The recent judgment against the forty-seven Hong Kong activists follows close suit, with defendants in the mass case receiving sentences from four to ten years: all for using their legitimate political rights to free speech and assembly to strengthen democracy in Hong Kong. The CCP no doubt believes that by cutting off the tallest poppies, the whole field will be pacified.

Fear is real and not illogical. We are all flesh and blood; we all succumb to pain and suffering. And when someone with the international recognition of Jimmy Lai remains out of reach of the international community’s ability to rescue, regular people have a right to be concerned that they would fare no better for speaking out. The CCP is well aware that it will not be able to win over the trust of the Hong Kong people. But as long as the people are subdued, the short-term goal, at least, has been met.

But are these crackdowns ultimately effective in suppressing dissent? Netizens in China are taking to social media platforms to explain that in the past, a resident of the mainland could aspire to escape to Hong Kong when things got bad, as Jimmy Lai did as a teenager. Now, people note, one has to escape over the Pacific—i.e., to America—to find freedom.

Again, history sheds light. The flip side of the cycle of political repression is a cycle of truth-seeking and demands for political freedoms. The tanks of Tiananmen were not enough to quell the next generation’s will for political progress—through the law—and the detentions of 2015 did not deter the countless protests that have ignited across the nation since that time, from the small-scale local scuffles to the white paper revolution that changed the course of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

If anyone is fooled by the veneer of submission in these cases, it is surely only the CCP itself. The so-called need for repetition of the tactic where violence begets fear, which begets suppression, should be as sure a sign as any of the eventual futility of the method. The CCP can lock people up on the most spurious of charges. But it cannot crush the human spirit, nor can it snuff out the will to freedom that every generation of Chinese people has manifested. History, in its repetition, shows the truth.

Countless historical events confirm that as long as the CCP authoritarian regime exists for a day, it will inflame hatred, persecute the people, and create injustice while attempting to corrode free societies and international systems abroad. The CCP is currently leading the international community by the nose. But we cannot appease this regime. We cannot continue simply making hollow statements to the regime without committing to following through and acting for meaningful change. Even saying, “The CCP is persecuting so and so, so we will demand the release of so and so,” is not enough. It’s a bandaid approach to an arterial wound when what is needed is complete change. 

We must find a way to sweep the CCP authoritarian regime into the waste pit of history. If we don’t do this, humanity will suffer without end alongside the Chinese people. We cannot stand by from the opposite shore and expect the CCP’s countless evil actions will not affect us. The CCP will secretly try to infiltrate free countries and inflame tensions abroad. The only way forward is for the West to support the Chinese people to bring freedom and democracy to China. Only then will the cycle of violence and suppression come to an end, and violent conflict between the West and the CCP will be avoided. This is a future we should all aspire to bring to fruition.

Image by Sergii Figurnyi and licensed via Adobe Stock.