It is no wonder that in Hong Kong, like in Beijing, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 was marked by silence in the graveyard this year, writes Anirudh Jain
The case of pro-democracy activist of Hong Kong Joshua Wong in the biggest case under the National Security Law brought to trial in the former British colony is a glaring instance of how the new law imposed by Beijing is being used against democracy activists in the island city.
Wong was one of 47 activists charged in 2021 under the NSL with conspiracy to commit subversion for their involvement in an unofficial primary. The activists were accused of attempting to paralyse the government in Hong Kong and topple the Leader of Hong Kong by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block the budgets of the city indiscriminately.
Wong first became a household name in Hong Kong as a teenager in 2012 for leading protests against the implementation of national education in schools in Hong Kong.
In 2014, he rose to fame as one of the student leaders in the Occupy Movement in the city, during which demonstrators occupied streets for 79 days and brought traffic in some areas to a standstill, demanding direct elections for Hong Kong’s leader.
In the leaderless pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong in 2019 against a law for extradition of accused citizens of Hong Kong to mainland China for trial, Wong helped drum up overseas support for the protests. His activism resulted in Beijing calling him as an advocate of the independence of Hong Kong who had “begged for interference” from foreign forces. When the security law was enacted on June 30, 2020, “Demosisto,” a political party he had co-founded, was disbanded.
The convictions have drawn concern from foreign governments. The United States has said it plans to impose new visa restrictions on both Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for implementing the security law. A British judge has said the verdict “is symptomatic of a growing malaise in the Hong Kong judiciary,” days after resigning from a post on the top court in Hong Kong. In fact, a series of resignations of British and Australian judges from top courts in Hong Kong has put a serious question mark on the independence of judiciary in the island city. Courts in Hong Kong may soon be reduced to the status of kangaroo courts.
A former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada stepped down from the top court of Hong Kong last year, following a series of resignations by other overseas judges from the court. Beverly McLachlin ended her term serving as a non-permanent overseas judge at the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong. Jonathan Sumption, a British judge who has resigned from the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, has subsequently mentioned about a growing “paranoia of the authorities” and judges being intimidated by a “darkening political mood” in the Asian financial hub. “Hong Kong, once a vibrant and politically diverse community, is slowly becoming a totalitarian state. The rule of law is profoundly compromised in any area about which the government feels strongly,” he has written. “The least sign of dissent is treated as a call for revolution.” He has written that he had remained on the court in the hope that the presence of overseas judges would help sustain the rule of law, but “I fear that this is no longer realistic.”
Another British judge, Lawrence Collins, resigned last June; saying his departure was “because of the political situation in Hong Kong.” In 2022 another British judge, Robert Reed, stepped down while saying the administration “has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression.”
In fact, the NSL enacted by the Chinese government in 2020 has eroded the judicial independence of Hong Kong and all but wiped out public dissent. Many pro-democracy activists have been arrested under the NSL.
In the latest of such outrage, at the end of August two former editors of a news outlet already forced to down its shutters were convicted on the charge of sedition. Former Editor-in-Chief Chung Pui-kuen and former Acting Editor-in-Chief Patrik Lam of Stand News were arrested in December 2021. Stand News was one of the last media outlets that had openly criticized the government for the crackdown on dissent that followed the massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019.
One of the most prominent detainees has been publisher Jimmy Lai, the 76-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper. He was arrested in 2020 during a crackdown on the pro-democracy protests in 2019. He was charged with colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security and conspiring with others to put out seditious publications. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
Last month, Lai’s lawyer Robert Pang argued before a Hong Kong court his client had no case to answer because the evidence of the prosecutors was insufficient and that the prosecution had failed to prove Lai’s intent and had stressed the importance of freedom of speech. But a three-judge bench ruled against him last week, without any elaboration. “Having considered all the submissions, we rule that the first defendant has a case to answer on all charges,” was all that the judges said.
Observers say Lai’s high-profile case is a trial of press freedom and a test for judicial independence in the Asian financial hub. When Britain handed back Hong Kong to China in 1997, the city was promised to have its Western-style civil liberties kept intact for 50 years. The freedoms that once set Hong Kong apart from mainland China, including freedoms of press and assembly and judicial independence, has however drastically shrunk since the enactment of the NSL of 2020.
On the other hand, the Hong Kong authorities are devising new ways every second day to crush civil liberties and voices of dissent. They have lately cancelled the passports of six overseas-based activists under the NSL, stepping up its crackdown on dissidents who have moved abroad. Among them are former pro-democracy lawmaker Nathan Law, unionist Mung Siu-tat and activists Simon Cheng, Finn Lau, Johnny Fok and Tony Choi; all accused of endangering national security by authorities in Hong Kong. The government has said they have “absconded” to the UK. The Hong Kong police have offered rewards of 1 million Hong Kong dollars each for information leading to their arrests; a step that has drawn sharp criticism from Western governments.
It is no wonder that in Hong Kong, like in Beijing, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 was marked by silence in the graveyard this year. Tiananmen memorials have been scrubbed out in Hong Kong. A carnival organised by pro-Beijing groups was held in a park that for decades was the site of a huge candlelight vigil marking the anniversary of the massacre.
As Beijing’s toughened political stance has effectively extinguished any large-scale commemorations within its borders, overseas commemorative events have grown increasingly crucial for preserving memories of the Tiananmen crackdown. Over the past few years, a growing number of talks, rallies, exhibitions and plays on the subject have emerged in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Taiwan. These activities foster hope and counteract the aggressive efforts to erase reminders of the crackdown.