Telegraph: 'For Hong Kongers, the Queen represents what they have lost: their freedom', Benedict Rogers

The contrast between Her Majesty with the dictators in Beijing could not be starker

Amidst the myriad of expressions of grief from around the world in response to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Hong Kongers have been poignantly prominent. Not only those 120,000 or more Hong Kongers already in Britain as a result of the generous British National Overseas (BNO) scheme – by which we opened our doors to provide them with a lifeline in the face of Beijing’s repression over the past two years – but those in Hong Kong itself have also been visibly paying tribute. Through this week, people dressed in black laid flowers at the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong and hundreds queued to sign the book of condolence.

But why? Why is my social media feed full of messages of love from Hong Kongers for Her Majesty? Of course, as the tributes pour in from around the world, she was loved in many countries, within and beyond the Commonwealth, but there seems to be a particularly deep sentiment among Hong Kongers.

In part it is because thousands of them have fled the city and moved to the United Kingdom to build a new life here. In part it is because of our colonial history, and the fact that, although the Chinese Communist Party regime is now trying to erase it, symbols of that legacy live on. There are schools, hospitals and streets named after the Queen, who was known affectionately in the city by the Cantonese phrase “si tau po”, which means “the lady in charge” or “boss lady”. Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh, visited Hong Kong twice during her reign, in 1975 and 1986.

But it is of course about much more as well. It is about what the Queen symbolises – and about what, in recent years, Hong Kong has lost.

For Hong Kongers, the Queen symbolised freedom. In a way, that sounds odd – Britain was a colonial ruler in Hong Kong. The way we acquired Hong Kong, as a result of the opium wars in the mid-19th century, is not something any of us would be proud of today. We never introduced full democracy to Hong Kong, and it was only in the final five years of colonial rule that, through the best efforts of the last governor Chris Patten, we tried to extend democratic rights.

But most Hong Kongers will tell you that although we did not give Hong Kong full democracy, we did create the institutions by which a free, open society was developed: the rule of law, judicial independence, an independent civil service, a vibrant civil society, a free press and a partially elected legislature. And basic human rights were protected: freedom of expression, protest, religion and assembly. Although the colonial governors were not directly accountable to the Hong Kong people, they were answerable to a democratically-elected Parliament in Westminster that upholds those values. The constitutional monarchy as an institution, and the personal character of the Queen herself, encapsulated those values.

Today, all of that has been torn up by Beijing. The free press has been shut down, the judiciary politicised, the rule of law eroded, basic freedoms trampled on, freedom of expression and protest denied, religious freedom threatened and civil society almost completely dismantled. The legislature is now entirely packed with pro-Beijing quislings and the Chief Executive is answerable only to the dictators in Beijing.

In November 2019, as the Hong Kong police continued a brutal, violent crackdown on protests throughout the city, six students from the Queen Elizabeth School in Hong Kong wrote an impassioned letter to the then monarch, appealing for her help in the “defence of freedom and democracy”, describing the situation as their “darkest hour”. I remember citing the letter in a speech at a protest outside Downing Street in solidarity with Hong Kong. There was a sense that the Queen represented everything that those students saw being destroyed in front of their eyes.

Of course the Queen’s other characteristics and values – duty, diligence, courage, consistency, compassion, wisdom – also resonated with Hong Kongers. As a people, Hong Kongers value hard work, personal responsibility, family and duty, and they could see those same values represented by the Queen.

The contrast between the Queen – both as a person and in the institution of the monarchy – with the dictators in Beijing and their proxies who now run Hong Kong could not be starker. In the Queen they saw a head of state who, though unelected, devoted her entire life to selfless public service, and was a guardian of freedom. In the tyrants that now rule Hong Kong, they see only a selfish desire to hold on to power at all costs, and a leadership that rules by fear, repression and lies, rather than public interest or service. Perhaps it is that contrast that leads Hong Kongers to mourn the Queen with particular poignancy.

This article was published on The Telegraph on 18 September 2022.