‘Unsafe’ Hong Kong a convenient target for Western politicians at election time

While London battles a crime spree and soldiers guard the New York subway, politicians in the West choose to target law and order in Hong Kong, one of the world’s safest cities, rather than deal with problems at home

Bernard Chan

Published: 9:30am, 22 Mar 2024

Why you can trust SCMP

I had the great privilege recently of listening to a discussion with the distinguished Martin Barrow, who provided valuable perspectives on our tourism development and promotion. He lived in Hong Kong for over 20 years and served in public and private posts, including as chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Association and vice-chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

After retirement, he moved to London but remains deeply engaged in Hong Kong affairs, maintaining strong connections with the city he has always cherished and considers his second home.

During the discussion, Barrow explained that because he regularly returns to Hong Kong, many friends and business leaders in the United Kingdom often ask him about public safety and the dangers lurking in Hong Kong’s streets. He responds that Hong Kong is one of the world’s safest places, far safer than walking on the streets of London.

Perhaps it is understandable that the more ill-informed associate Hong Kong with the images of violence and disruption that briefly threatened the city in 2019. They do not understand that Hong Kong has moved on from the violent street protests that were broadcast globally because Western media coverage is often distorted. However, the local community has continued to move forward and develop in the traditions of peace, prosperity and harmony.

I recently heard of a senior American executive to whom the head office assigned a bodyguard because of the misguided belief that the streets of Hong Kong are unsafe. It quickly became evident that this was completely unnecessary.

People in Hong Kong tend to take law and order for granted. Women, children and older people can walk alone through the streets in complete safety, morning, noon or night. They can travel on public transport without fear of harassment or violence. This is not the case in most major British, European or American cities.

Police officers detain a person as disrupters target shops during a shoplifting spree flash mob on Oxford Street in London, Britain, on August 9 last year. Photo: Reuters

The crime rate in London, for example, is out of control by our public safety standards and runs 20 per cent higher than the UK average. Worryingly, crimes relating to violence and sexual offences, theft from the person (for instance, pickpocketing) and antisocial behaviour are on the increase, and stabbings account for over 60 per cent of the fatalities in Greater London. Reports of violent attacks on cyclists and their bicycles being stolen by thieves on motorcycles are increasingly common.

Unfortunately, with election fever in the air, it has become the norm for Western politicians to deflect voters’ attention from such severe matters at home. Due to geopolitical hostilities towards China, Hong Kong has become an increasingly regular target for attack.

One glaring example is the recent article published by The Telegraph on International Women’s Day, co-authored by Iain Duncan Smith and Liz Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. They expressed concerns about “the plight of women in Hong Kong, whose rights and freedoms are increasingly under brutal siege”. Such a grossly inaccurate statement is not worthy of further comment.

Surely, Ms Truss, you must be joking about Hong Kong?

Their vilification of our Correctional Services Department based on the proportion of women inmates is extraordinary and is simply another cheap slur against Hong Kong to gain media coverage.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the levels of violent crime in the United States are staggering and difficult for people in Hong Kong to comprehend. Shootings in schools, shopping malls or on university campuses are sadly far too common.

14:36

The real-life gangsters of New York’s Chinatown

If the public transport system is a barometer of a city’s public safety, New York, the world’s premier financial centre, has serious issues. To alleviate the dangers commuters face in the city’s subway, the state governor has deployed National Guard soldiers and state police troopers to supplement the 1,000 police officers the mayor deployed last month.

The authorities in New York and London are going to great lengths to maintain public safety. Still, people must constantly remain alert, particularly on public transport or walking around the streets. This is something we never have to worry about in Hong Kong or mainland China.

Brace yourself for more fake news in this blockbuster election year

As long as politicians in some Western countries peddle misinformation about safety in Hong Kong to support their political ambitions rather than focus on the issues that matter, the perception of Hong Kong will remain out of kilter with reality.

But as more tourists return and experience Hong Kong’s vibrancy and safety, the tide will turn. More people will realise they are once again being fed cheap sound bites to deflect from the problems at home.

Bernard Chan is a Hong Kong businessman and former Executive Council convenor