Democracy Dies in the Open Beijing crushes the remnants of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/democracy-dies-in-the-open-11605136283?mod=opinion_lead_pos3
Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” form of government autonomy died this summer, and the Chinese Communist Party is now moving fast to crush its remnants. Beijing’s latest target is the Legislative Council and its pro-democracy lawmakers.
On Wednesday China’s legislature passed a resolution allowing Hong Kong authorities to remove lawmakers without judicial oversight. Hong Kong authorities quickly booted four pro-democracy legislators, including Dennis Kwok and Alvin Yeung, two brave defenders of an independent judiciary.
Hong Kong’s remaining pro-democracy lawmakers responded by resigning en masse. “Sooner or later we would all have been disqualified,” Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai said. Unconditional allegiance to Beijing is now a requirement for office. At a news conference Wednesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said it is disqualifying for lawmakers to oppose the new national security law or to plan on “indiscriminately voting down” Beijing’s legislative agenda. Ms. Lam will go down in history for betraying her city.
The Communist Party long ago rigged LegCo, as the legislature is known, so democrats could never gain a majority. Pro-democracy lawmakers have nonetheless served their constituents by working to prevent or delay some of the worst legislation and appointees. This new resolution completes LegCo’s transformation into a rubber-stamp body. It represents “Beijing’s rule by decree in its ultimate form,” said Claudia Mo, one of the lawmakers who resigned in protest.
Even before this resolution, Hong Kong’s opposition was under siege. Last week Hong Kong police arrested eight current and former pro-democracy lawmakers. They face up to a year in prison for disruptive behavior at a LegCo meeting last spring, but their real offense was defending the rights of Hong Kongers.
The scuffle in May broke out as pro-Beijing lawmakers worked to ram through legislation that suppresses speech by outlawing disrespect of the Chinese national anthem. Pro-Beijing legislators who participated in the tussle haven’t been charged, but pro-democracy lawmaker Andrew Wan, who had to be carried off on a stretcher by paramedics after the scrap, was among those arrested.
Despite widespread opposition, the national-anthem bill passed on June 4. Less than a month later, Beijing imposed a sweeping national-security law on Hong Kong that effectively prohibits all dissent. Fearing that pro-democracy candidates would gain seats despite the rigged system, the government postponed the LegCo elections scheduled for last September. Now they’ll be meaningless.
Freedom dying anywhere diminishes the world, but Hong Kong’s fate is especially important because it shows China can’t be trusted to keep its international promises. Its treaty with the U.K. promised autonomy to Hong Kong for 50 years through 2047. It was extinguished in 2020.
Comments are closed.
