As tensions rise in Hong Kong, Thursday marked the 24th anniversary of the former British colony’s handover to China, as well as one year after Beijing enacted sweeping national security legislation in response to months of turmoil and challenges to its authority.
Foreign countries seeking to coerce China would “have their heads smashed” and will be confronted with a “huge wall of steel,” according to Chinese President Xi Jinping, speaking in front of tens of thousands in Tiananmen Square.
Xi claimed there was no place for so-called “sanctimonious preaching” in a combative hour-long speech.
The importance of security and territorial integrity in Beijing is not lost on Hong Kong residents, who have seen police carry out a massive crackdown in the city in the year after the security legislation was passed. In mid-2019, peaceful mass protests against Beijing’s expansion erupted in the Asian financial capital, drawing worldwide attention. However, as the protests turned more violent over months, Beijing became increasingly eager to portray them as a Western-backed revolution creating the foundation for the security law.
Amnesty International stated on Wednesday that the national security law has created a “human rights emergency” in Hong Kong and that the city-state is “on a fast track to become a police state.”
Beijing has also promoted John Lee, Hong Kong’s senior security officer, to the city’s number two leader, purportedly as a reward for implementing the security law.
Beijing said the security law would only be used to target a “small minority” when it was originally adopted, but activists believe the law is now being weaponized to completely eliminate the opposition, stamp out dissent, and limit the city’s liberties.
President Biden issued a statement on the day Apple Daily shuttered, stating, “It is a sad day for media freedom in Hong Kong and across the world.”
“Beijing has insisted on leveraging its authority to repress independent media and muzzle dissenting viewpoints through arrests, threats, and pushing through a National Security Law that penalizes free speech,” the statement added.
On China’s National Day, October 1, 2019, Albert Ho was sentenced to 18 months in jail for encouraging others to join in an unlawful gathering, which eventually turned violent.
The judge who sentenced Ho and nine other pro-democracy activists claimed the heavier punishment was “necessary in maintaining public order” and served as a “deterrent.”
For many, the only option has been to flee, with the United Kingdom and other nations providing a more straightforward road to citizenship for some Hong Kong residents.
“The second thing I’d want to say is that I trust the courts,” Tong continued.
However, there are now concerns over whether the integrity of Hong Kong’s judiciary, which is founded on the English common law system, would be jeopardized.
Zheng’s remarks come as the national security cases from the previous year begin to be heard in Hong Kong courts.