Hong Kong will be on trial too

Yesterday marked the start of the trial for 47 people in Hong Kong accused of trying to topple the government. So far it is the largest trial involving people charged under their new and stricter national security laws.

Some of those on trial include lawyers, teachers, and even former Hong Kong politicians, but most of them were people who participated in the demonstrations calling for democracy that took place from 2019 to 2020. For those who cannot recall, these were the Umbrella Movement protests that saw peaceful demonstrations yet caused massive disruption of operations in that Chinese territory.

Their trial is expected to last four months, but the verdict may already be a foregone conclusion, considering that the judges assigned to the trial were all handpicked by the government.

"This is a retaliation against all the Hong Kongers who supported the pro-democratic camp... Beijing will go all out --even weaponizing the laws and court-- to make sure democratic politics in Hong Kong cannot go beyond the lines it drew," said Eric Lai, a fellow of Georgetown University's Center for Asian Law.

The way we see it, Hong Kong itself will be on trial too, as the world will watch how these proceedings will unfold.

Ever since Hong Kong clamped down hard on the pro-democracy protesters it has been under threat of losing its status as a favored financial destination. While rankings still place Hong Kong among the three top financial hubs in the world after New York and London, some banks formerly entrenched there are now moving to Singapore with more expected to follow.

That city-state is seen to soon eclipse Hong Kong as Asia’s new financial hub.

While the world cannot impose a punishment on Hong Kong --like the life imprisonment sentence likely to be imposed on most if not all of those charged-- banks, companies, and other institutions can always vote with their feet and move somewhere else if they no longer find the atmosphere favorable.

And a sham trial with a foregone conclusion, which is likely in this scenario, is one that isn’t likely to sit well with the locals.