More Trouble Looms for Hong Kong China denounces the protest movement as a ‘political virus.’
https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-trouble-looms-for-hong-kong-11589148219?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
Hong Kong’s political health took a turn for the worse last week, even as the city celebrated progress in its containment of coronavirus. Beijing knows that the rest of the world is distracted with the pandemic, and it is exploiting the opportunity to exert more control in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office denounced the protest movement as “a political virus in Hong Kong” and warned that Beijing would not “sit idly by with these recklessly demented forces.” The office’s new director, Xia Baolong, is known for making good on Beijing’s threats. Before taking Hong Kong, he oversaw the arrest of Christians, the demolition of churches and the toppling of crosses in Zhejiang Province.
On Friday pro-democracy and pro-Beijing lawmakers got into a physical altercation at the Legislative Council building. The tussle broke out over who will lead the powerful House Committee, but the underlying issue is whether pro-democracy lawmakers will be able to block legislation that would suppress speech by criminalizing disrespect of the national anthem. The scuffle ended with pro-democracy lawmaker Andrew Wan carried off on a stretcher by paramedics and with security forcibly ejecting other pro-democracy lawmakers.
Worse may be coming. In late April, Hong Kong police arrested more than a dozen prominent proponents of democracy, including Martin Lee, the father of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, and Jimmy Lai, a media tycoon who sometimes writes for us. Their preliminary hearing is May 18. They face charges for organizing and participating in last year’s protests and could be sentenced to years in prison. The arrests send a message that Hong Kongers protest at their legal peril.
Yet more protests seem inevitable. The national anthem legislation is one possible trigger. Another is Beijing’s intensifying calls for Hong Kong to pass national-security legislation that would criminalize dissent. Police may use coronavirus as an excuse to deny Hong Kongers a permit to hold their annual remembrance rally of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4. And beginning on June 10, protesters will mark a series of significant anniversaries for last year’s protests.
Beijing continues to blame Hong Kongers for the political instability and economic damage. But China’s unrelenting assault on Hong Kong’s freedom and legal autonomy guarantees that the resistance will continue.
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