LettersHong Kong stands alone, just a pawn in geopolitical power games

Name: Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam
Uploaded: 2020-06-12T23:05:13.000Z
Duration: 2 min 23 s
Description: Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam

Hong Kong’s unhappiness has been used as leverage; it is caught up in the US-China trade war, and even Britain’s citizenship offer is not as magnanimous as it sounds. Sadly, Hong Kong stands alone and vulnerable

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Hong Kong protesters raise their flags and mobile phone flashlights to mark the first anniversary of major anti-extradition bill protests, in Central on June 9. Photo: Dickson Lee

Letters

Published: 7:05am, 13 Jun 2020Updated: 7:05am, 13 Jun 2020

We are nearly halfway through 2020 and Hong Kong remains in turmoil, with societal divisions intensifying as the government refuses to acknowledge these issues and stubbornly turns a deaf ear towards public sentiment and voices.

Last year’s attempt to push through the extradition bill, despite public fears about its possible misuse by Beijing, backfired. Now, it is turn of the national security legislation to roil public opinion.

The Sino-British Joint Declaration and Basic Law promised post-handover Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, including executive, legislative and judicial independence. However, Beijing has incessantly and increasingly exerted its influence, and eroded autonomy here, through the pro-establishment loyalists.

The Basic Law, on paper, guarantees freedom of the press, expression and assembly. However, in practice, Beijing has grown noticeably less tolerant of criticism, and resorted to being increasingly high-handed, viewing pro-democracy voices as a challenge to China’s authority.

Now, Beijing has moved to further undermine freedom in Hong Kong through the national security law; worse still, it will do so by bypassing the Hong Kong legislature and due process.

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Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam

Even as the protests in Hong Kong throw light on Beijing’s clear betrayal of the “one country, two systems” blueprint, Hong Kong’s unenviable situation is being exploited by many to further their own agenda.