Our duty of solidarity with Hong Kong
Why Britain must stand with the anti-extradition protestors
1997 was the year that, for many, the sun finally set on the British Empire. In a highly symbolic ceremony, watched over by Prince Charles representing Queen Elizabeth II, Britain returned the island of Hong Kong back to Chinese control, ending 99 years of colonial rule. However, rather than being fully incorporated into the PRC, Hong Kong would operate under the “one country, two systems” doctrine, whereby it would be recognised as a part of China, but would retain a high degree of autonomy, preserving many of the civil liberties that citizens enjoyed under British rule.
Since then, Hong Kong has been home to a lively democracy with (relatively) free elections, a raucous free press, free internet access, the right to protest, and importantly, the right to commemorate. Hong Kong is the only part of China where those massacred in Tiananmen Square in 1989 can be remembered and mourned publicly. There is also no application of the death penalty, and those arrested for a crime are guaranteed a fair trial.
But it is that important right, the right to a fair trial, that is under threat from the mainland. And that threat has triggered the largest mass-protests in recent history in Hong Kong.
Unable to unilaterally impose its will on Hong Kong, the authoritarian regime in Beijing has instead sought to undermine and chip away at its political and judicial independence. Now, pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam is preparing to sign into law a bill that would allow for the extradition of Hong Kong residents to the mainland to face trial. Lam and her political allies say the bill is necessary to allow for the prosecution of those who commit crimes in China and then flee to Hong Kong. But her opponents, who numbered in the hundreds of thousands according to various reports, say it is yet another step in the erosion of Hong Kong’s freedom and independence. They fear that the law will be used by the Communist Party to pursue political opponents on trumped up charges.
Beijing has taken an increasingly tough line on Hong Kong since President Xi took power. And its tactics have grown more aggressive. In 2016, bookshop owner was kidnapped and rendered to mainland China, where he spent months in solitary confinement.
His crime? Selling books that contained unflattering gossip about President Xi.
When Britain returned control of Hong Kong to China, we made a promise that the islanders would not be abandoned to the Stalinist political repression and persecution that so many in China are forced to live under. Now, as Beijing seeks to bully and intimidate a former British colony into submission, we are being asked just how firm our commitment to those principles were. Britain can and must raise its voice, and use our considerable diplomatic arsenal to rally support to the people of Hong Kong as they defy their government and seek to preserve their civil liberties, liberties which we assured them would be preserved after the 1997 handover. Our friends in Hong Kong accepted our promises on this front in good faith. We should show them that we meant it.
