Hong Kong human rights are not ‘under fire’, despite what an outrageous report claims

After the British peer, Paddy Ashdown, unveiled his report, “Hong Kong 20 years on: Human Rights and Autonomy Under Fire”, last week, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor dismissed it as “unfounded and unfair”. She was right to do so, as it is deeply flawed. Ashdown, who spent several years in Hong Kong as a soldier with the British Army in the 1960s, and recently made a flying visit here, concluded, on the basis of discussions with unidentified individuals, that because of China’s meddling, the Basic Law’s freedoms “have been increasingly eroded”.

This, of course, was music to the ears of serial China- basher and former governor, Chris Patten, who, not surprisingly, was prominent in the audience when Ashdown presented the report in the House of Lords. Acting as cheerleader, he eagerly praised a “very good report”, claiming, for good measure, that the last few years have been “pretty bad” for Hong Kong.

Patten, who infamously badmouthed Hong Kong’s legal system when he visited last year, must have been in seventh heaven when he heard Ashdown claim that “the rule of law is under real and increasing pressure from Beijing”. He even took it upon himself to slam Lam’s comments as “unwise” and “over the top”, as if Ashdown could not speak for himself.

Ashdown’s report was issued under the auspices of Hong Kong Watch, which was launched only on December 11, and of which he is a patron. Although it claims its objective is to provide “independent” analysis on freedom and human rights in Hong Kong, anyone scratching the surface quickly discerns its true nature. Its co-founder and chair, Benedict Rogers, a peripheral figure on the fringes of Britain’s Conservative Party, has taken to hosting anti-government figures visiting London, and has made little secret of his partisan views. He recently, for example, described political activists convicted of a serious public order offence – which left 10 security guards injured – as his “heroes”, a sentiment Ashdown presumably shares.