Gordon Chang: National security law allows China to do whatever it wants in Hong Kong
Fox News Asia analyst Gordon Chang weighs in on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’
Well, THAT didn’t take long. Less than a day after Beijing passed a sweeping “national security” measure to crackdown on protests in Hong Kong, the island police made their first arrest under the new law. The man’s “crime?” He had dared to display a pro-independence flag.
So much for freedom. So much for trusting China to live up to its agreements.
When the British returned the island to China in 1997, the Communist government assented to a “Basic Law” that respected the political and economic liberties the Hong Kong people enjoyed when they were part of the Commonwealth. The compromise was labeled, “one country, two systems.”
HONG KONG PROTESTER FIRST TO BE CHARGED UNDER NEW SECURITY LAW IS DENIED BAIL
That agreement lasted for decades. It was certainly a boon to the people of Hong Kong. As an example, for more than two decades the island ranked number one in the Heritage Foundation’s global Index of Economic Freedom — an incredible achievement.
In recent years, China’s aggressive foreign policy has been matched by a determined effort to extend its domestic power. That has included everything from herding some one million Uighurs into “re-education” camps to grading the behavior of its citizens to squeezing the political liberties of Hong Kong.
If the rest of the world is not moved to pity the minority Uighurs, it should at least be alarmed by its flouting of “Basic Law.” After all, a regime that readily abandons its commitments to its own people can hardly be trusted to keep its promises to the rest of the world.
The people of Hong Kong responded to China’s abrogation of the law with major public protests. Beijing’s response was to double down. The new law is clearly intended to give Beijing the direct authority and tools needed to root out political dissent and public demonstrations.
The law raises four very troubling concerns. First, it states that Beijing has the power to both define criminal offenses and directly enforce them. Those offenses include subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreigners. This is basically a blank check to categorize any protest as a national security threat.
Second, the mainland will set up a national security office in Hong Kong to handle national security crimes. That will give the Chinese Communist Party a platform allowing it to directly impose its will on the Hong Kong people if necessary.
Third, the law provides authority to send suspects to the mainland for trial — something Hong Kong democrats have been long been warning about. Now, every Hong Konger goes to bed not knowing if they will be seized in the middle of the night and wake up in a concrete cell on the mainland, never to be seen by their family and friends again.
Fourth, the law’s reach extends to foreigners. Individuals anywhere in the world who somehow offend the communist regime should be wary of setting foot in Hong Kong. If they do, they too may find themselves arrested and shipped to the mainland.
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What is not yet clear is exactly how the national security office will interact with Hong Kong police. There could be, for example, operational cooperation, with mainland authorities joining raids and arrests. Certainly, there will be more sharing of intelligence and oversight. At the very least, this will have a deep chilling effect on organizers of dissent and protest. Freedom of speech doesn’t have much a future, as the fear of prosecution and punishment will certainly escalate.
For sure, that act and the implementation of the law marks the end of one country, two systems. So much for Beijing’s international commitments to uphold that agreement.
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The people of Hong Kong will no doubt stand and continue to demand the freedoms they have long enjoyed — the freedoms Beijing pledged to honor. Americans must help these freedom-loving people where we can and hold China accountable for its misdeeds.
The U.S. government is rightly working through the legal implications of Secretary of State Pompeo’s determination that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from the mainland. Some of those pieces are already falling into place. For example, the day Beijing passed the bill, the Trump administration announced it was adding new restrictions on the sale of defense equipment and certain high-tech products to Hong Kong.
China’s actions will affect virtually all relations between the U.S. and the island. Law enforcement cooperation, for example, will be much harder. We can no longer assume that Hong Kong authorities’ requests for assistance are legitimate; they could just be doing Beijing’s bidding to crack down on dissidents.
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Unfortunately, some of our responses to China’s perfidy will make life harder for the people of Hong Kong. We should try to prevent that in areas like most trade where Hong Kong will continue to operate autonomously and where U.S. restrictions are bound to hurt Hong Kongers more than mainlanders. But at some level, that sort of unintended damage can’t be helped. In which case, it is important to stay focused on who is responsible for this situation — the reckless and oppressive regime in Beijing.
In going after Hong Kong, Beijing is shredding its international credibility. America can help the people of Hong Kong by spotlighting the Chinese Communist Party’s dishonorable behavior to the world. In the end, Hong Kong’s only hope may be a world that wakes up to the global danger the regime represents.