Former Hong Kong lawmaker in exile in the U.S., Leung Sung-hang, issued a statement on January 27 urging governments to put pressure on Beijing and the Hong Kong government over the arrests of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong on January 6, with the joint support of 17 U.S. and British lawmakers. Sinologist Perry Lam said he was pessimistic about the future of Hong Kong. The executive director of the Hong Kong Democratic Commission, Mr. Zhu Mumin, said he had “full confidence” that the Biden administration would take practical action to support Hong Kong.
The Voice of America reported that Leung Chung Hang issued a statement on the 27th, calling on governments to respond to the massive political roundup in Hong Kong on the 16th. Seventeen U.S., Canadian, British and Australian members of Congress, including U.S. Representatives Ken Buck (R-CO) and Scott Perry (R-PA), signed a statement in support of solidarity with Hong Kong.
In the statement, Reps. Barker and Perry noted that the 53 arrested pro-democracy activists, including U.S. citizen and human rights lawyer Kwan Sheung-yee, demanded that the Chinese and Hong Kong governments stop the political persecution of pro-democracy activists, and supported the U.S. government’s prompt and action-oriented response to the Hong Kong arrests and continued commitment to the Hong Kong people’s fight for freedom and democracy.
Zhu Mumin, executive director of the Hong Kong Democratic Committee, said the arrests, the largest since the implementation of the National Security Law, show that Beijing and the Hong Kong government’s purges are becoming more widespread and deeper, arresting not only political figures and former legislators, but “even people who hold democratic ideas are being arrested and persecuted.
U.S. citizen Kwan Sheung-yee, a human rights lawyer who supported and helped organize the primary election last year, was arrested for this reason,” said Chu. He, as a U.S. citizen and a lawyer who co-organized the primary, I think the Hong Kong government’s claims are alarming and basically indicate that they will prosecute and criminalize not only behavior in public or online, but also ideas, speech, and association with groups, which I think are alarming signs and signals.”
Perry Link, a sinologist and Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Riverside, is pessimistic about Hong Kong’s prospects in the short term.
Perry Link said, “I think the Xi regime has decided to suppress Hong Kong and the plan is unfolding step by step, from about three months ago to now, step by step, arresting people, intimidating people, passing bills and so on, it’s planned and it’s going to work. The days of Hong Kong as a very active and free city are gone. But in the long run, I still have to be optimistic that someday Greater China will democratize.”
“Because a ruling system like the Communist Party is anti-human. No matter how long it suppresses it, it can’t suppress human aspirations, democracy and freedom, constitutional regime, these are very basic things, of course they will emerge.” Perry Lin said.
Chu has “plenty of confidence” that the Biden Administration will play a practical role in Hong Kong, that it will put pressure on the Chinese Communist Party in different ways, and that Hong Kong will receive the support for immigration and refugee protection in the United States that it has failed to secure in the past. He urged the U.S. government to make human rights in Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet one of the central issues in foreign policy negotiations.
We believe that the U.S. government, and the Biden administration’s re-entry into multiple global negotiations and treaties, is critical to making Hong Kong and human rights a part of foreign policy decisions,” said Zhu. I think both the National Security Council and the State Department are sending signals that they are serious about doing that.”
Perry Lam said that Beijing’s success in suppressing Hong Kong is likely to be followed by Taiwan. He said, “Xinjiang it suppressed, Hong Kong it suppressed, it feels pretty good about its power, and it’s insecure inside and vain to do this kind of thing. So it has to continue to do or try to continue to do no matter what, so I worry about what will happen to Taiwan in the future.”
“The U.S. is a little more likely to help Taiwan than it is to help Hong Kong, and Japan is also very concerned about Taiwan’s problems. So the Communist Party will not come soon, but its goal is there, I’m sure of that.” Lin Peirui said.
In addition to the U.S. speaking out, countries around the world should also work together to confront Beijing’s ambitions, which will shift from private negotiations to “face-to-face competition.
He said, “The United States can play a role, the world can play a role, Japan and Europe should also contribute, Australia should also contribute, it is possible to stop Beijing. Speaking out is one level, and speaking openly and fairly I think is important.
Lin Peirui said, the United States in the past about 40 years, the kind of private negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party, unwilling to openly tear open the face of others kind of approach, is obviously not right. It’s better to be straightforward and say what’s fair, for one thing. In other respects, he said, “It’s certainly important that the United States supports Taiwan economically and militarily, and supports Australia. I can’t say what the future holds, but there is this face-to-face competition [internationally against the Chinese Communist Party].”
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