Show trials and fake elections are destroying Hong Kong
Media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, a champion of liberty in Hong Kong, went on trial on Monday, in perhaps the highest-profile prosecution yet under a national security law that has come to define the city’s new reality, in which independent thought and protest are stamped out. China’s authorities are crushing what made Hong Kong into a uniquely successful enclave of liberalism, order and prosperity — and people are, predictably, fleeing the city.
The prosecution of Mr. Lai, 76, is a signal moment. A self-made garment industry tycoon, he used his fortune to establish the popular pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, making him one of the most prominent independent voices in Hong Kong. He has already served more than three years, and now he is charged with “colluding with foreign forces” and sedition, facing up to life in prison if convicted.
The national security law was imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 after mass protests the year before and has been used to silence dissent in the former British colony. According to lawyers, the Hong Kong authorities intend to use the prosecution of Mr. Lai to portray the city’s 2019 pro-democracy protests as a U.S.-directed plot aimed at destabilizing China, instead of the grass-roots-organized demonstrations they were.
Hong Kong authorities have multiplied their use of police-state tactics, announcing on Dec. 14 that they are offering bounties of $128,000 each for the arrest of five democracy activists on charges of “incitement to secession,” “incitement to subversion” and “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.” Once again, the truth is being turned on its head — advocates for liberty are being accused of treachery.
Yet another sign of the downward slide came in elections on Dec. 10. These were elections in name only, with the outcome preordained. The number of directly elected District Council seats was slashed to 88, less than one-fifth of the total; most of the remaining seats will be appointed. Under a strict new vetting process, interested candidates first had to secure endorsements from at least nine members of government-run committees. And even those securing the endorsements then needed to be vetted further by national security officials to ensure their patriotism. Not a single opposition party candidate could run that obstacle course and enter the race.
People are voting in Hong Kong — with their feet. The city has experienced a wave of outward migration since the national security law was imposed, leaving some schools without enough students, a shortage of teachers and civil servants, and local officials complaining about a brain drain.
China is remaking Hong Kong into another wasteland of liberty, where the exponents of free speech and assembly are called criminals and the authoritarians go free. Beijing should not be surprised as the city’s decline accelerates.