The Communist Party of China is preparing for what state media called this Wednesday an “unprecedented” celebration of its ideology, responsible for at least 45 …
The Communist Party of China is preparing for what state media called this Wednesday an “unprecedented” celebration of its ideology, responsible for at least 45 million deaths in China alone, in Hong Kong next week for the 100th anniversary of the Party. Under the One Country, Two Systems policy, Beijing agreed upon taking sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 that it would not impose communism on the capitalist city. Dictator Xi Jinping passed increasingly aggressive measures during the 2010s to undermine One Country, Two Systems, leading to multiple waves of protests that culminated in the 2019 Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. At its peak two years ago, a single protest against communism in Hong Kong attracted 2 million of the city’s 7 million people. During the 2019 protest movement, polls indicated that a record low number of Hong Kong residents identified as “Chinese.” Most, according to the University of Hong Kong, identify simply as “Hongkongers.” Hong Kong’s Beijing-controlled government arrested and brutalized many of the protesters throughout 2019, but failed to pass any laws that would limit their political freedoms. In response, the National People’s Congress (NPC) — China’s federal legislature, which has no formal power over Hong Kong — passed a law in May 2020 decreeing support for “secession,” “foreign interference,” “terrorism,” or “subversion of state power” a threat to national security. The “national security” law requires a minimum of ten years in prison for anyone found guilty of violating it. While the NPC law violates “One Country, Two Systems,” Hong Kong’s police force is nonetheless enforcing it, most recently this week against the editors and staff of Apple Daily, an anti-communist newspaper forced to shut down Thursday. The Communist Party of China turns 100 years old on July 1, which the state-run Global Times propaganda outlet noted on Wednesday will allow for a celebration on the regime’s part of the complete takeover of Hong Kong.
