China will now use COVID-19 as excuse to punish Hong Kong protests

:AS+,1*721 ± +ong .ong recently announced that it is extending the city¶s coronavirus emergency restrictions until -une .

So why extend the restrictions" Because

-une is the anniversary of China¶s brutal crackdown on peaceful democracy protesters in 7iananmen Square. Every year since , +ong .ong residents have taken to the streets to commemorate the massacre. 1ow, Beijing is trying to prevent the annual march by declaring it a danger to public health.

,t¶s just the latest example of how the Chinese Communist Party is using C2V,D- as a pretext to throttle +ong .ong¶s pro-democracy movement. 7he city¶s puppet government has banned gatherings of more than four people ± which conveniently makes it unlawful for people to march together or even hold meetings. 8nder the state of emergency, anyone who participates in or even provides a venue for prohibited gatherings could face six months in jail.

2n April , authorities arrested leaders of the movement ± ± including former legislator Martin /ee and media tycoon -immy /ai ± ± on charges of participating in unlawful assemblies. -oshua :ong, the student-activist who serves as secretary general of the pro-democracy party Demosisto, says that if the same arrests had taken place just a few months earlier, hundreds of thousands of people would have taken to the streets. As recently as -anuary, he points out in an interview, million people came out to protest in a city with just million residents. But the state of emergency has made it “impossible for us to mobilize people, get them on the street.”

1ow, Beijing is attempting to take advantage of the lockdown to ram through a new national security law banning treason, sedition and secession in +ong .ong ± ± which would effectively end the “one country, two systems” principle established after the British handover in . 8nder the terms of that transition, +ong .ong was supposed to enjoy a high degree of autonomy until . But now China is moving to take full control of the territory.

:ong says the pro-democracy forces will not be intimidated “7his summer, , believe we will get the people on the street, more than a million people show our anger and solidarity, and to keep on the fight.” Demonstrators plan a massive march to mark the first anniversary of the pro-democracy protests, which began in -une when nearly million people took to the street and forced the withdrawal of a bill that would have allowed +ong .ong people to be extradited to China.

7he goal is to build momentum over the summer leading up to September¶s elections for +ong .ong¶s /egislative Council, its highest legislative body. /ast 1ovember, pro-democracy forces crushed the pro-Beijing parties in +ong .ong¶s local district elections, winning of the seats in a vote considered a referendum on the protest movement. 1ow they plan to repeat that performance by winning a majority in the /egislative Council. 7hey could then use the legislature as a platform to demand free elections to replace the city¶s reviled, Beijing-appointed chief executive, Carrie /am. “:e have to elect the leader of this city,” :ong says.

,t is an uphill battle, but Congress gave the pro-democracy forces leverage when it passed the +ong .ong +uman 5ights and Democracy Act last 1ovember. 7he law requires Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to issue a report determining whether +ong .ong continues to enjoy its promised autonomy. ,f Pompeo determines it does not, the costs for Beijing could be dire. 7oday, +ong .ong enjoys preferential trade treatment because 8.S. law treats it as a distinct entity from China ± ± but if +ong .ong¶s autonomy disappears, so does the rationale for treating +ong .ong better. 7hat means if Beijing launches a military intervention, interferes with the city¶s free elections or refuses to respect the results, it could lose +ong .ong¶s preferential trade status ± ± a massive economic blow.

China needs to be careful, because the 8nited States is in no mood for business as usual with Beijing. Americans¶ views of China are at an alltime low, and Americans know that China¶s lies and deceit are the reason they are locked in their homes and nearly million are out of work. President 7rump has soured on his trade deal with China. And Congress is considering a raft of bills to bring our supply chains home from China and hold Beijing accountable for the virus it unleashed on the world. 7he 8nited States will not hesitate to impose a tremendous price for any crackdown in +ong .ong.