By Jerome A. Cohen
Saturday’s mass arrests in Hong Kong, following the bold assertion by Beijing’s Liaison Office of comprehensive power over the PRC’s Special Administrative Region, represent a stunning advance toward the Chinese Government’s demolition of One Country, Two Systems in fact, if not in name.
The people of Hong Kong are very unlikely to accept this further erosion of “the high degree of autonomy” that they were promised when the PRC and the UK concluded the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong’s future in 1984 and China enacted the Basic Law for Hong Kong in 1990.
This week’s actions may well be an attempt by Beijing to provoke a broad popular reaction that will then provide an excuse not only to finally bulldoze success passing controversial national security legislation in HK under Basic Law Article 23, but also to call off the crucial September election scheduled for HK’s Legislative Council. Indeed, another Art. 23 campaign is sure to elicit an even stronger reaction than we saw last year in response to PRC efforts to pass legislation authorizing extradition/rendition of alleged criminal suspects for “justice” on the Mainland. Unless, of course, HKG restrictions regarding Covid-19 inhibit people from going into the streets, which is what the PRC is surely counting on.
Some observers have wisely advised the public to keep cool and remain patient, if possible, and virus restrictions may make this probable, by and large. Whether or not there is street reaction, there should be no letup, of course, in exposing the Chinese Communist Party’s nefarious actions. The Party undoubtedly has other actions up its sleeve in its effort to squelch Hong Kong’s striving for democracy.
With all the pro-HKG talk about the importance of equality before the law in the hope of justifying the mass prosecution of the SAR’s traditional democratic figures, I believe the defense will emphasize the inequality demonstrated in singling out these 15 leaders while not prosecuting the hordes of others who also technically violated the anti-protest regulations in question. The prosecution will have to show that the 15 each not only took part but also led or helped organize last year’s protests and that others not prosecuted do not share that responsibility. These criminal trials will not be short and simple, and one should not underestimate the preparation and competence of the HK Department of Justice professionals, however reluctant some of them may be to pursue these cases.