'This July 1, there is much to be concerned about Hong Kong', Benedict Rogers
The world must wake up to the dangerous behavior of the regime in Beijing
Today is yet another dark day for China, particularly for anyone who practises a religion or is of a non-Han ethnicity, and especially for Hong Kong.
Today marks a triple whammy of repression: the 29th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China, the sixth anniversary of the imposition by Beijing of the draconian National Security Law in Hong Kong, and the implementation of a new Orwellian-sounding Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress across China.
On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong was handed over to China from Britain, under the promise of “one country, two systems.” Hong Kong’s promised freedoms and autonomy were enshrined in an international treaty registered at the United Nations, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and in Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
Almost three decades on, those promises lie in tatters, those treaty obligations and constitutional protections shredded.
Over the past decade, and particularly the past six years since the National Security Law was imposed, most of Hong Kong’s basic freedoms — of expression, association, and assembly, along with media freedom — have been dismantled, and other freedoms — of religion and academic thought — increasingly undermined.
Hundreds of political prisoners remain in jail, including the media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, serving a 20-year sentence, barrister Chow Hang-tung, and trade unionist Lee Cheuk-yan. Independent newspapers have been forced to close, civil society has been shut down, pro-democracy political parties have ceased activities, and the legislature has been transformed from a vibrant multi-party quasi-democratic entity to a puppet rubber-stamp body of pro-Beijing goons handpicked by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Hong Kong has been transformed from one of Asia’s freest and most open cities into one of its most repressive police states. The only features that mark it out from mainland China are that it retains its own currency, and the internet is still more freely accessible. The ‘Great Firewall’ of China has not yet engulfed Hong Kong, although what you post or share or even ‘like’ on social media can get you arrested and some websites, such as that of Hong Kong Watch, which I co-founded almost a decade ago, are blocked.
Yet as if that were not enough, now the Hong Kong government has enacted a regulation, granting the Chief Executive the power to certify any criminal case as a national security matter, with immediate and binding effect on Hong Kong courts. This further undermines the rule of law and any remaining vestiges of judicial independence, if the Chief Executive can determine on a whim what is a violation of national security.
But while Hong Kongers mourn today, people across China face yet another turn of the screw with the implementation of the so-called ‘Ethnic Unity Law.’ Legislation to promote ‘unity’ and ‘progress’ sounds appealing — but in reality, it is the latest tool in the CCP’s campaign of ‘sinicization’ of religion and culture. And the term ‘sinicization’ can be misunderstood too — it is not about religious ‘inculturation,’ making religion appropriate for Chinese culture. On the contrary, it is a weapon of slow genocide, aimed at eliminating religious or cultural ideas and practices that are at odds with the CCP, and co-opting religion into the CCP.
The law, promulgated by the National People’s Congress in March this year, requires schools and other educational institutions to use China’s national language — Mandarin — for education and teaching. On the surface, there may be good reasons for this — but beneath the surface, it is clear that this is aimed at killing off Tibetan, Uyghur, Cantonese and other languages spoken by millions whose first language is not Mandarin.
When combined with the forcible transfer of millions of Tibetan and Uyghur children from their homes into boarding schools where they are indoctrinated with CCP ideology, Mandarin, and denied the right to practice their religion or culture or speak their language, the intentions are stark.
It also — in Article 46 — will require religious groups “to carry out publicity and education on forging a strong sense of the community of the Chinese people, persist in the direct sinicization of our nation’s religions, guide religions to adapt to socialist society, guide religious professionals and believers to carry forward the tradition of patriotism.”
In other words, it enshrines in law the practices of the past decade whereby places of worship — particularly Christian churches — have been forced to display portraits of Xi Jinping and CCP propaganda banners alongside, or even instead of, religious symbols or scriptural quotes.
Perhaps most insidious of all, this new law aims not only at co-opting culture and religion and eliminating non-Han, non-CCP practices, but also has critics overseas in its sights.
Article 10 states that “matters of ethnic unity and progress are not to be interfered with by foreign forces. All acts using excuses such as ethnicity, religion, or human rights to insult or disparage, contain and suppress, or infiltrate and undermine the PRC are to be resolutely opposed.”
And Article 63 states that “organizations and individuals outside the [mainland] territory of the PRC that commit acts aimed at the PRC that undermine ethnic unity and progress or create ethnic division are to be pursued for legal responsibility in accordance with the law.”
I have never sought to insult or disparage the PRC and have certainly never tried to undermine ethnic unity or progress or create ethnic division. Indeed, as I constantly emphasize, I love China: it is the CCP and its repressive violations of human rights that I oppose. But my work, including this article, may fall foul of Article 10 and Article 63, as may the advocacy efforts and cultural activities of Tibetan, Uyghur, Hong Kong, Chinese Christian, Falun Gong, and other exiled diaspora communities.
At least eight United Nations special rapporteurs have raised concerns about this new law — and the ways it violates human rights and international law and extends China’s transnational repression.
So, this July 1, there is nothing to celebrate and much to be concerned about. The international community should be reminded of all these developments.
A fresh effort to press for the release of Jimmy Lai, Chow Hang-Tung, Lee Cheuk-yan and other political prisoners in Hong Kong should be made.
Efforts should be intensified to seek the release of Chinese student Tara Zhang Yadi, arrested last year for her own efforts to promote harmony, understanding and unity between Han Chinese and Tibetans.
And a global campaign should be mounted to oppose this new, insidious and extremely dangerous so-called ‘Law Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress’ — because the law does neither of the things in its name. It is not about promoting ethnic unity — it is about propagandizing CCP ideology, coercing and co-opting ethnic and religious groups into the CCP, and weaponizing religion and culture with genocidal intent. And it is one of the most regressive laws imaginable.
The world must wake up to the dangerous behavior of the regime in Beijing, towards its own people, beyond its borders, and in breach of international treaties.
July 1 would be a good day to awaken and act.
This Article was published in UCA News on 1 July 2026.
Photo: Alan Mak, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons