Hong Kong protest movement left reeling by China’s power grab
Opposition movement confronting prospect of Beijing imposing its will
The last time they faced a proposal that would have curbed their autonomy from mainland China, Hong Kong residents flooded the city’s streets, stormed its legislature and clashed with police amid flames and clouds of tear gas. They stared down local leaders, who they said were doing the bidding of Beijing, and ultimately the government relented.
But Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition movement is now confronting the prospect of Beijing imposing its will regardless of what they think.
The Chinese government’s plan, unveiled Thursday, to take a stronger, more direct hand in Hong Kong’s affairs surprised members of the territory’s leaderless protest movement. For many protesters, the move raised questions about how to oppose the direct power of the Chinese Communist Party, which does not tolerate dissent and is fiercely resistant to compromise.
“They are dealing a knockout blow to the democracy movement,” said pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo. “All the fear, the desperation, the antipathy is now being answered by this national security law.”
Stunned and saddened, many protesters on Friday seemed demoralized and uncertain of their next move. While some on social media called for rallies or singalongs, several organizers said they would focus on events already planned for the coming days. Those demonstrations include a rally scheduled for Sunday to oppose a separate drive by Hong Kong officials to criminalize disrespect of the Chinese national anthem.
Some protesters urged each other to delete their social media accounts, which they feared could be used against them should Beijing push through the same kind of social controls in Hong Kong that it exercises in the mainland. Others called for the United States or Britain, Hong Kong’s former colonial ruler, to act.
Outward signs of resistance were muted Friday. At noon, about two dozen protesters walked from a police station on Hong Kong’s western side to China’s Liaison Office, which represents the mainland government’s interests in the semiautonomous territory. As they walked, they chanted, “One country, two systems is dead” and “Hong Kong is the next Xinjiang” — a reference to the region in northwest China where authorities have carried out a vast crackdown on predominantly Muslim minority groups.
Police officers quickly ordered the protesters, largely elected officials, to stop. Citing social distancing restrictions, police eventually cordoned them off into two groups and issued formal warnings. The march lasted about three minutes. “With each new blow, you start to feel that it is inevitable,” Lo Kin-hei, a district council member who joined the march, said of China’s tightening grip over the territory.
Chinese leaders, enraged by months of protests last year, moved Thursday night to take on the protesters directly, rather than manoeuvring through its hand-picked Hong Kong government. Chinese officials said the country’s legislative body would impose national security laws on Hong Kong, a semi-independent territory, after nearly two decades of waiting for Hong Kong’s government to enact them itself.
Carrie Lam, the city’s chief executive, who is selected by the central government, said in a statement that the proposed security laws would “ensure the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong.” They would also prevent dangerous situations that “the political and business sectors in Hong Kong and members of the public have been worrying about over the past year,” she said.
The central government’s supporters denied that the national security laws would erode Hong Kong’s autonomy.
“This is definitely not the end of ‘one country, two systems,’” said Andrew Leung, a pro-Beijing lawmaker who leads the city’s legislative council, its main law-making body.
The shift was a major blow to Hong Kong’s protest movement, which had already spent the previous months watching an emboldened Beijing encroach on its freedoms but was unable to gather because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, protesters gathered to great effect. After the Hong Kong government introduced a bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, the city’s residents — fearing that the bill would be used to quash dissent — mobilized in some of the largest protests in the city’s history. Hundreds of thousands filled some of Hong Kong’s busiest streets.
Hong Kong’s reaction to the Chinese government’s plan likely won’t stay muted for long. Many in the anti-Beijing camp said they believed the protests would mushroom as social distancing measures eased. The Hong Kong government recently extended the restrictions through at least June 4.
The city’s democracy activists also emphasized that the details of Beijing’s plan remain unclear and that any law would likely not go into effect for several months, giving them time to mobilize.
“Next week, the main thing might be the national anthem law, but in the coming months, the main thing will be the national security law,” said Agnes Chow, a prominent student activist. “I believe there will be a lot of mass protests in the coming weeks and months.”
But protesters also acknowledged that the ends of the protests had shifted, now that they were doing direct battle with Beijing, rather than its proxies in the local government.
While appeals to the international community formed a core part of the protesters’ message last year, they seemed especially prominent Friday. Lee Cheuk-Yan, a former Hong Kong lawmaker and organizer of the city’s annual commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, said Beijing’s actions posed a clear test for the international community.
“They are challenging the world: ‘Are you going to do something for Hong Kong?’ ” Lee said at a news conference. “This is a challenge of the world’s values.”
Some U.S. senators have called for sanctions on Chinese officials who carry out the security laws, and the Trump administration has warned Beijing against violating Hong Kong’s autonomy. A spokesperson for the European Union also said officials there were “following very closely” developments related to the national security laws.
“I believe there will be a lot of mass protests in the coming weeks and months.” AGNES CHOW PROMINENT STUDENT ACTIVIST