My Take | Foreign press can always be relied on to distort HK-Beijing relations
- The city’s mostly self-made problems led to unrest, which has been exploited by the West against Beijing’s attempt to restore stability
Two giant inflatable yellow duckies sailed into Victoria Harbour early in June and brought great cheer to the city. Unfortunately, one deflated. Disappointing, but not a big deal – unless you are part of the foreign press reporting on Hong Kong.
Establishment Day came and went at the weekend, but the Anglo-American media could always be relied on to report on how badly the city had been enslaved since the introduction of the national security law (NSL) by evil communist Beijing. Somehow, news groups such as the American NBC News even managed to link the deflated duckie to the NSL, the downfall of Hong Kong and the dejected mood of its people.
Are people happier in riot-hit Paris or a London plagued by a cost-of-living crisis and collapsing public healthcare? I am not so sure.
The mainstream Western media narrative has long been that Hong Kong was winning the battle for full democracy until Beijing cracked down on it, neutralised the opposition, jailed everyone and cancelled Christmas. That may be a convincing story, if you know little or nothing about the city. In fact, Beijing offered the city universal voting rights, but the opposition rejected it in 2015.
Let me offer an alternative account.
Hong Kong’s problems have been mostly self-made; and the course correction introduced by Beijing following the city’s attempt at self-immolation in 2019 has been painful but necessary. How so?