With Security Law like Cudgel, Beijing hits Hong Kong

PART For weeks, as Beijing quickly drafted and imposed a new strict national security law on Hong Kong, many in the territory feared the rules would be used to intimidate the opposition, but hoped they would not wait. a wide kick.

Now those hopes are dashed. Putting aside international criticism and sanctions, the Chinese government has used the letter and spirit of the law to suppress Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opponent with astonishing brutality.

Just last week, authorities ousted a keen law professor at Hong Kong University who has been a key figure in the urban democracy movement, and arrested four young activists on suspicion of expressing online support for independence. They have also barred a dozen candidates from running for legislature, using opposition to the security law as a new ground for disqualification.

On Friday, authorities postponed for a year the elections themselves, which were scheduled for September 6th. While they cited the coronavirus pandemic as a justification for the move, it underscored Beijings’ fears that pro-democracy candidates could triumph.

The breadth and severity of the actions reflect Beijings’ urgency to incite opposition to its violating authority over the territory after more than a year of political unrest there.

More will come, said Victoria Tin-bor Hui, a political scientist from Hong Kong at the University of Notre Dame.

Aggressive consolidation of China’s power mirrors moves wider to bend its political, economic and military power as the world is distracted by the pandemic.

Western nations have been aggressively attacking Beijing measures, imposing sanctions and even suspending extradition agreements with Hong Kong, but to no avail. In a way, it seems to have appropriated China, which blames the Hong Kong dispute on foreign intervention.

The people of Hong Kong deserve to have their voice represented by the elected officials they elect in those elections, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a radio interview Thursday before the election was postponed. If they destroy it, if they remove it, it will be another marker that will simply prove that the Chinese Communist Party has now made Hong Kong another communist-run city.

Wang Wenbin, chief spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said Beijing was allowing Hong Kong authorities to set election time. But he also insisted that Beijing would not detach itself from any foreign country from doing what it deems necessary in Hong Kong.

China is not afraid of being intimidated by any external force. Our determination is unwavering and incorrigible in defending national sovereignty, security and development interests, he said.

On the mainland, China completely withdraws from political disputes. For the authorities there, Hong Kong with its nominal political autonomy and strong pro-democracy movement has been a major stimulus, especially after large open protests and occasionally violently challenged Beijings control and even sovereignty over the city last year.

With its blow, Beijing is following the authoritarian game book of countries like Russia, holding elections but managing them so that they cease to reflect the true will of the voters. Russia leader Vladimir V. Putin recently staged a constitutional referendum to perpetuate his rule and then pursued it with a series of arrests, hoping to quell discontent before gaining momentum.

They do not have the confidence to face the people, to face the choice of the people, to face the demands of the people, said Alvin Yeung, a pro-democracy lawmaker sitting in the moderate Civic Party who disqualified from running on Thursday. Her fear.

Years in the making, the national security law created a climate of fear and uncertainty just hours after it was enacted.

On the day the law went into effect, police arrested 10 protesters for national security violations, including a young boy on a motorcycle with a Hong Kong liberation flag who crashed into police officers. Tong Ying-kit, who was hospitalized after the crash, was later charged first under the new law. He remains in custody.

The newly created law enforcement agency, the Office for the Protection of National Security, soon took up residence at the Metropark Hotel in Causeway Bay (a 4.5 rating on Tripadvisor.com) and surrounded it with barricades at a Beijings physical event in increase the authoritarian footprint in the city.

The agency is headed by Zheng Yanxiong, a senior Communist Party official sent from Guangdong, the mainland province. He is best known for his hostility to a short-lived experiment in democracy in a Guangdong village, Wukan, nearly a decade ago.

On July 10, Hong Kong police raided an independent voting institute whose computers were being used by pro-democracy supporters for an unofficial primary to decide which candidates would run for the legislature. Five days later, police arrested five activists, including a Democratic Party of the Territories deputy leader, in connection with violent protests and clashes at Hong Kong Polytechnic University last November.

The four young activists arrested Wednesday were all former members of Studentlocalism, a pro-independence group led by high school students who completed its operations shortly before the security law went into effect. In the past, the group had routinely distributed leaflets supporting independence outside of schools.

Regina Ip, a cabinet member and leader of a small pro-Beijing political party in the legislature, welcomed the arrest Wednesday of four activists, ranging in age from 16 to 21. She said their posts showed continued support for Hong Kong’s independence after the law went into effect, though police have not provided details of what they specifically said.

Their arrest shows the authorities are acting in accordance with the law, she said.

On Friday evening, Chinese state television reported that Hong Kong police had issued arrest warrants for the arrests of six pro-democracy lawyers who are now overseas. They are wanted on charges of promoting secession and collaborating with foreign forces, under report crimes punishable by life imprisonment under security law. Police declined to comment.

One of the six, Samuel Chu, said on Twitter that he had been an American citizen for 25 years.

Also Friday, Hong Kong justice secretary David Leung, the British-trained director of prosecution, submitted his resignation. Politicians and pro-Beijing police had accused Mr Leung of being very careful in bringing charges against protesters, even though he had prosecuted some high-profile activists. Mr Leung did not issue a statement.

The spirit of security law has been used to justify the dismissal of Hong Kong University professor Benny Tai. After enforcing the rules, Mr. Tai, who was convicted of public trouble for his role in the protests in 2014, helped organize the last primary vote for the pro-democracy camp.

The Beijing-based Liaison Office in Hong Kong supported his departure, describing it in a statement as a just act of punishing evil and promoting good and in accordance with the will of the people. The security law was also invoked this week on the disqualifications of candidates for the legislature.

The legislature may have no place for these unscrupulous individuals who are plotting to destroy Hong Kong, the liaison office said. The Hong Kong government said candidates who opposed the passage of the Beijing Act in principle were violating the oath to uphold the Hong Kong constitution.

The government also said it was unconstitutional to swear block its legislative proposals in order to put pressure on the administration. Some opposition lawmakers had spread the idea of ​​voting on the government budget. Under Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, that could force the resignation of chief executive Carrie Lam, and new elections.

The one-year delay in the elections now gives the authorities time to disqualify more pro-democracy candidates from running and disrupt any remaining momentum of the anti-government movement.

While the protests have largely calmed down since the law was enacted, the opposition had looked to the elections as a way to revive their cause. The pro-democracy camp had hoped for big wins in the polls, following their landslide victory last fall in the district elections. With many of their most prominent leaders now barred from running, their chances seem less certain.

Mr Yeung, the lawmaker, said the government had failed to show that elections could not move forward during the pandemic. He cited security measures adopted by South Korea and Singapore during the last election.

How can they convince the rest of the world, including the people of Hong Kong and the international community, that they have no other motives other than public health concerns? he said.

Ms. Hui, from Notre Dame, compared Beijings’ strategy to Sun Tzus The Art of War. Beijing, she said, has taken advantage to defeat its perceived enemies, not only with Hong Kong security law, but also in the South China Sea, the Chinas border with India and other disputed areas.

The simplicity of the law cannot be measured by the number of arrests, she said, but by the preventive effects on the silence of anyone who dares to object.

Keith Bradsher reported from Beijing, Elaine Yu reported from Hong Kong and Steven Lee Myers reported from Seoul.