Democracy Activists Arrested in Hong Kong, and What it Means for the Fight Against China
Pro-democracy protesters face Chinese law enforcement in the streets of Hong Kong. Photo by Jonathan van Smit.
On February 28th, 2021, Hong Kong arrested 47 pro-democracy protestors charged with violating the National Security Law, a piece of legislation which criminalizes certain forms of civilian protest against the government. The battle between Hong Kong and Beijing has been an ongoing dispute since the colonial period, much in part due to interventionist British foreign policy in the East Asian region. In the past ten years, however, this struggle for democratic autonomy in Hong Kong has attracted media attention globally as part of the larger attack on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s authoritarian government. But the National Security Law has been in effect since 2020, which inevitably raises the question: what does this shift in enforcement mean for Hong Kong’s democratic movement, and what does it reveal about China’s evolving policy on Hong Kong?
The National Security Law contains 66 articles that seek to crush dissent against government authority. More specifically, the Law criminalizes four distinct categories of acts: secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with any foreign force. On its face, the Law does not seem to present any urgent threat; but the most consequential aspect of the National Security Law is that it was neither written nor passed by Hong Kong, but by Beijing.
To understand the National Security Law, one must first consider the unique historical relationship between China and its territories. The colony of Hong Kong returned to Chinese control in 1997 after some 156 years of British control, in accordance with the “Handover of Hong Kong,” more formally the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Hong Kong earned the status of Special Administrative Region (identical to the status of Macau), which meant semi-autonomy in terms of provincial legislative affairs. The “one country, two systems” relationship between China and its Special Administrative Regions (SARs) meant that Hong Kong could operate as mostly democratic, detached from the otherwise authoritative Chinese government on the mainland. But Beijing does not respect this status: China’s encroachment on Hong Kong semi-autonomy presents one of the most widely condemned human rights crises in the world, hence the so-called “mainlandization” of Hong Kong, where Beijing moves to assimilate Hong Kong into mainland governmental and cultural norms.
When Hong Kong formally became a SAR in 1997, it produced a constitution, the Basic Law, which protects civil liberties like speech and assembly that no other part of mainland China enjoys. Contingent upon Hong Kong’s semi-autonomy was the passing of a Hong Kong national security law—but this never actually happened. The politics of internal division--varying levels of loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party--within Hong Kong’s provincial government prevented the passing of a security bill. The 2020 National Security Law, then, is China stepping in to pass the law that Hong Kong’s provincial government should have passed years ago. Consequently, the Law hands over massive amounts of power to Beijing when it comes to policing Hong Kong civilians, particularly those who oppose the Communist Party. The recent arrests, therefore, can be seen as a direct repercussion of the failure of Hong Kong officials to unify around the central cause of opposing mainland encroachment. There is more at stake than Hong Kong’s legal status: the rights and freedoms of civilians will depend upon the willingness of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council to rise above party politics and unite against Beijing as a common enemy.
With recent headlines in consideration, it is clear that there is no time to spare. These recent arrests represent an evolution of China’s approach to the issue of Hong Kong. The National Security Law has always raised concerns about civil liberties in Hong Kong, but those concerns did not actualize until this year. 2021 has seen the Law’s most forceful and prosecutive use since its inception; the arrests are a rapid escalation of Beijing’s already overreaching involvement in Hong Kong. Without a definitive force of resistance from the Hong Kong Legislative Council, the mainland government will continue pushing until there is no remaining sense of autonomy left at all.
As for the future of Hong Kong’s democracy movement: it is perhaps more apparent now more than ever what Hong Kong protesters are up against. For the movement to reach fruition, or even to accomplish any step toward autonomy from the mainland government, Hong Kong’s legislative body must unify its approach to resisting Chinese encroachment. The fight will not be won with protests alone, particularly with the National Security Law now in full prosecutive enforcement. Right now, the pro-democracy bloc has a high chance of gaining the majority in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council in the 2021 elections, which were controversially postponed until September. Should this majority be achieved, the Council could reject the government’s budget, which, in accordance with Hong Kong provincial law, would effectively force the resignation of Chief Executive Carrie Lam, a Beijing-appointed and thus pro-China official. Garnering control of the Legislative Council will prove critical in opposing the National Security Law. The battle for Hong Kong’s departure from China’s oppressive form of governance is only in its infancy. As the stakes rise for protestors, so too must the strategic offense posed by Hong Kong’s provincial government.
Kaitlyn Saldanha is a staff writer at CPR and a first-year at Barnard College studying Economics and International Relations.