Hong Kong was once considered the CCP’s ‘golden goose,’ helping propel China forward. By trying to impose total control on the city, Beijing killed the golden goose.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he has directed his administration to “begin the process of eliminating policy exemptions that give Hong Kong different and special treatment.” His announcement came a day after China’s People’s Congress passed Beijing’s controversial new national security law related to Hong Kong. Trump’s announcement will profoundly affect the future of Hong Kong and the U. S.-China relationship.
The president’s decision was based on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s certification to Congress Wednesday that “Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China,” a decision he said gave him no pleasure but that “sound policy-making requires a recognition of reality.”
The facts on the ground support Pompeo’s assessment. Without universal suffrage, Hong Kongers are stuck with a government made up of pro-Beijing business elites who are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), rather than accountable to 7.5 million residents of the city. Under the assertive CCP Party Secretary Xi Jinping, Hong Kongers have seen accelerated erosion of their political freedom for years.
Nine leaders of the 2014 Umbrella movement, which demanded universal suffrage in Hong Kong, were sentenced to prison. Four pro-democracy legislators were disqualified for modifying their oaths of allegiance to China during their swearing-in ceremony. Hong Kong authorities refused to issue visas to several human rights activists and foreign journalists. Beijing even sent mainland Chinese police to Hong Kong to arrest booksellers and a Chinese tycoon, bypassing Hong Kong’s own judicial system.
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover in 2017, the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared, “Now that Hong Kong has returned to the motherland for 20 years, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, as a historical document, no longer has any realistic meaning.” The CCP essentially abandoned any pretense that it would keep the promises it had made to Britain and the people of Hong Kong when the city was handed over.
In 2019, Hong Kong government tried to rush a new extradition bill through the legislature, which would have allowed Hong Kong to surrender anyone wanted by Beijing based on trumped-up charges, including critics of Beijing, pro-democracy activists, and human rights activists. Hong Kong chief Carrie Lam only withdrew the bill after several months of mass protests, which eventually turned into violent confrontations between some young protesters and Hong Kong police. Beijing warned protesters it would take revenge.
While the rest of the world is struggling to contain a virus that originated in China, Hong Kong authorities arrested a number of prominent pro-democracy activists for their roles in the 2019 anti-extradition bill protests.
Beijing appointed hardliner Xia Baolong as the new director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office this year. Xia openly condemned Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers for filibustering bills Beijing wants to pass.
