Benedict Rogers: How to shun a situation where no one is left to speak out for you

Not satisfied with jailing prominent pro-democracy campaigners Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, Ivan Lam and Jimmy Lai, this week the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime surpassed itself with its most audacious mass round-up of politicians and civil society activists yet. The arrests on Wednesday of 53 former legislators, candidates, academics, lawyers and activists sent a clear signal: no one is safe in Hong Kong anymore.

As soon as the national security law was imposed on Hong Kong, without any transparency, scrutiny or debate, and as soon as we saw the content of this draconian law, we all knew what it meant: the death of Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy. And we all knew that arrests would follow. But few if any of us would have anticipated that the simple act of holding a primary election to choose the pro-democracy camp’s candidates for the expected Legislative Council elections would be regarded as a crime of subversion. And few would have predicted the dawn raid by police which resulted in the arrests of so many prominent former legislators, pollsters, academics and civil society activists, including an American lawyer, John Clancey, Chairman of the Asian Human Rights Commission. Foreign journalists and activists, including myself, have been denied entry to Hong Kong or faced cancellation of their work visas, but now an expat who simply served as treasurer of the group that organized the primary election faces national security charges.

Beijing’s desire for total control is staggering. The Legislative Council elections have already been postponed for a year, under the pretext of Covid-19, the entire pro-democracy camp has already left the current legislation – through disqualification or resignation, yet the CCP still feels the need to criminalize those responsible for conducting a simple democratic exercise that poses no direct threat to a legislature and executive that is now entirely a puppet of Beijing. It shows not only the regime’s outrageous repression, but also its fear and insecurity. It is a regime so lacking in self-confidence that it cannot brook any potential dissent.

Tragically, this awful beginning to the new year is unlikely to be the last in the regime’s total annexation of Hong Kong. Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the standing committee of the National People’s Congress, has called ominously this week for changes to the legal system and the judiciary, a direct threat to whatever remains of judicial independence, due process and the rule of law. These values have already been undermined in Hong Kong, but any further step to compromise the judiciary will have dire implications for Hong Kong’s reputation as an international financial center. The dismantling of freedoms, rights and autonomy has already damaged the city’s standing in the world, and an assault on the judiciary will be one of the final straws.

After the judiciary, who next? Already freedom of religion is undermined, as I have written about before, and press freedom is under attack. For as long as they have them, I urge Hong Kongers to find ways, creatively, to use the press and places of worship and other civic institutions to keep shining a light on the truth. But there may come a time – and it may not be far off – when we no longer have these outlets either. So to paraphrase the German pastor Martin Niemoller, who wrote that famous poem during the Holocaust which begins “First they came for ….”, let us resolve never to find ourselves in a situation where one day a poem is written that says of us: “First they came for the protesters, and I did not speak out, because I was not a protester; then they came for the journalists or media proprietors and I did not speak out because I was not in the media; then they came for the legislators, and I did not speak out, because I was not a legislator; then they came for the religious leaders, and I did not speak out, because I was not ‘religious’ – and then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Why is Beijing doing this now? One can only speculate, but perhaps they want to test the resolve of the incoming US administration or take advantage of the free world’s distraction while the US is in crisis over the presidential transition and Britain enters another Covid-19 lockdown.

The tragic scenes in the US Congress on Wednesday certainly don’t help matters, especially when Hong Kongers and those fighting for freedom around the world traditionally look to Washington, DC as a shining city on a hill, an example of democracy. That example will survive, but its temporary tarnishing is a gift to Xi Jinping.

Or perhaps Beijing was emboldened by the investment deal which the European Union, to its immense shame, signed, with no human rights standards or safeguards, even despite the European Parliament’s motion a few days beforehand calling for labor rights requirements and access to the prison camps in Xinjiang.

The free world must not allow Beijing to get away with this. The international community must respond clearly with action that signifies that such injustices won’t be ignored, that even when there are many other major issues on their plates our policy-makers and legislators will not ignore the destruction of freedoms Hong Kongers were promised under an international treaty, the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

The incoming Biden administration must send a very clear, robust message of intent to signify that it will not be a soft touch, and that if Beijing tests it, it will surprise doubters and critics with the strength of its response.

Britain must show leadership, in building a global coalition of support for Hong Kong. It has been reported that the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has discussed the arrests this week with his Canadian counter-part Justin Trudeau. There needs to be further such co-ordination – and most importantly, rhetoric must now be accompanied by action. A United Nations mechanism, proposed last year, for monitoring human rights in Hong Kong should be established.

And the European Union must listen to the last Governor of Hong Kong, Lord Patten, himself a former EU Commissioner, who was absolutely right when he described the EU’s new investment deal with the CCP as “a massive strategic blunder”, especially at a time when President-elect Biden is seeking to build an international alliance of democracies to confront the Chinese regime’s assault on the international rules-based order. The EU must cancel the deal, and show that when the values it claims to defend – human rights and liberty – are so systematically under assault, it will defend them and not kowtow for short-term cash.

2019 and 2020 were incredibly painful, traumatic and heartbreaking years for Hong Kong. From Beijing’s actions this week it looks as though 2021 will be even darker still. But those of us who still enjoy the light of freedom must continue to do everything possible to hold those responsible for causing this darkness to account, keep a light for those who struggle – in prison, in exile, in silence – and work for the day when Hong Kong’s lights – of freedom, human rights, the rule of law, democracy – blaze brightly once again: however long that takes.

Benedict Rogers is Co-founder and Chief Executive of Hong Kong Watch. This article was published in Apple Daily on 8 January 2021. (Photo: Apple Daily)