UCA News: 'The total implosion of Hong Kong's freedoms gathers pace', Benedict Rogers
The time has come for Beijing and its quislings in Hong Kong to pay a price for their actions
When I heard the news that the website of the organization I co-founded and lead, Hong Kong Watch, was blocked in Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party regime’s crackdown once again hit home, up close and personal.
Almost four and a half years after I was denied entry and effectively banned from Hong Kong, the charity I helped found to speak up for Hong Kong is now a target for the regime.
And less than a year after my weekly columns in Apple Daily’s English-language website abruptly stopped when Hong Kong’s one remaining Chinese-language mass circulation daily newspaper was forcibly shut down, people in the city are unable to access Hong Kong Watch’s own website.
These and other direct, first-hand experiences feel like a microcosm of the broader, all-out assault on Hong Kong’s basic freedoms.
When I first started speaking out for Hong Kong, in an individual capacity in the aftermath of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, I never imagined the situation would descend as rapidly as it has, or with the gravity that it has.
At the time, the situation appeared to be a gradual erosion, with disqualifications of pro-democracy legislators, the abduction of booksellers, “co-location” of mainland Chinese law at the Kowloon high-speed rail terminus, the expulsion of a few foreign activists or journalists such as me or the Financial Times’ Victor Mallet — all of which seemed deeply alarming but now look like mere early-warning signs in comparison with the total implosion of Hong Kong’s freedoms that we see today. Now Hong Kong is in daily freefall.
Foreign correspondents tell me their biggest challenge is finding people in Hong Kong who will speak to them
Today we face a scenario where almost every single pro-democracy voice in Hong Kong is silenced: jailed, sidelined, pushed out of the Legislative Council or driven into exile.
Up until perhaps six months ago, a few individuals in the city continued to speak out, but since then the number has rapidly dwindled to almost none. Understandably, everyone knows that jail is the fate that awaits anyone who dissents, and no one wants to go to jail.
Foreign correspondents tell me their biggest challenge is finding people in Hong Kong who will speak to them. I have gone from almost daily calls and messages with a wide range of people in the city two years ago to almost zero contact with people on the ground today. It is utterly heartbreaking. As someone put it to me not long ago, Hong Kong is becoming “Pyongyang with better lighting”.
I have written to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to request an explanation for the shutdown of Hong Kong Watch’s website, and I await an answer. Of course, there is no legitimate justification. Blocking our website denies Hong Kongers access to information about international advocacy initiatives, including, for example, the amendment proposed in the House of Lords last week by Hong Kong Watch patrons Lord Alton of Liverpool and the last governor of Hong Kong Lord Patten, who both happen to be Catholics. It looks likely that the British government may deliver on this, which would be very welcome.
As freedom is dismantled in Hong Kong, it should not surprise us if religious freedom is impacted. One by one, basic freedoms are being torn apart — in defiance of Hong Kong’s Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
The lack of robust, tangible action from the international community in response has emboldened the Chinese Communist Party regime and the Hong Kong authorities to act with impunity
Freedom to protest, freedom of assembly, the ability to contest elections, freedom of the media and expression, online and offline, are dismantled, and as civil society space is shut down, trade unionism is curtailed and academic freedom is restricted. It is only a matter of time before freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief, Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, commonly known as “religious freedom”, is severely challenged. And I have written about this recently.
Today I will be speaking in a webinar highlighting the potential crackdown on Christians in Hong Kong. I hope many will join — the event and the cause. Let’s awaken consciences to these threats to humanity.
The rule of law, basic freedoms, treaty promises and any ideas of autonomy for Hong Kong are being ripped up. “One country, two systems” — the concept Deng Xiaoping devised — has been torpedoed by Xi Jinping. And so far, the lack of robust, tangible action from the international community in response has emboldened the Chinese Communist Party regime and the Hong Kong authorities to act with impunity. The time has come for Beijing and its quislings in Hong Kong to pay a price for their actions. The time has come for sanctions.
When I lived in Hong Kong, for the first five years after the handover, I could buy newspapers that provided a range of comment, I could go to churches freely, I could organize demonstrations openly, I could access the internet without difficulty and I could express my conscience without danger. That’s what I want for Hong Kong. It is what it has lost. It is what we must fight for. And it’s what the free world must defend and never ever take for granted.
This article was published on UCA News on 17 February 2022.