The whole world’s attention, to a great extent, has shifted to the certification of the electoral college by the US Congress over the last few days. Sadly, it was reported that a Trump supporter and former female US Air Force veteran named Ashli Babbitt, 35, was shot and killed during the protest near the Capitol Building. Three others died after being found in “medical emergencies”. It was tragic. At the same time, the US mainstream media zeroed in on condemning current US President Donald Trump, and politicians found ways to oust him immediately after the violence around Capitol Hill.

I was watching the TV footage of the pro-Trump rally from afar in Hong Kong, which is 13 hours ahead of Washington, DC. No excuse for the excessive violence, that is for sure. From the perspective of an outsider like me, I believe the US has now highly polarized over Trump administration in the past 4 years. Maybe Trump is viewed as a disruptor, and the establishments just want him out. I also ask myself: why do the people from communist China and now communist Hong Kong pay so close attention to the whole US election process, including the finale of the certification of the electoral college? Perhaps people from Hong Kong and China, despite all the differences between them, are all craving for freedoms, something the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been trying very hard to prevent them from attaining. I don’t have a definitive answer to it, but people, especially those who seek freedoms, still have expectations of the democratic model.

Some Hong Kong people indeed pay close attention to statements made and actions taken by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to uphold the principles of freedom worldwide. Though the US commits blunders time and again, some view the country as the last beacon of hope of securing freedom. And indeed, freedoms are being taken away slowly from Hong Kong people, and some of them are actually in exile mode – they have no high hopes for China anymore.

The CCP-funded media waste no time in ridiculing the US politicians for being hypocritical to praise Hong Kong’s demonstrators during the 2019 social movement while having no ideas how to clear up the mess in Capitol Hill. Sad to say, it is said that internet users in communist China got entertained by the chaos. All I know for sure is that even with the imperfection of the American political system, undeniably, the powerful elites from communist China still believe in the US, and the mainland officials or ordinary people from communist China still send their children to the US for education and every so often for taking refuge. So here comes the double standard, and a perfect chance for the CCP to trash the US image.

Let’s focus back on the crackdown on the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong, while the whole world’s attention seems to be shifting to the final battle over confirmation of the US presidency. 53 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and organizers were arrested for allegedly breaching the National Security Law (NSL), and subsequently, the bulk of them were released on bail. An American human rights lawyer based in Hong Kong, John Clancey, was also arrested for the same reason. Hong Kong security chief John Lee said: “Today’s operation was targeted at active elements suspected of involvement in the crime of overthrowing, interfering in and seriously destroying the legal implementation of the duties of the Hong Kong government.” No foreigner living in Hong Kong is “immune” from the NSL.

With the imposition of the NSL since July 1, 2020, this is the first time, and probably not the last, the Hong Kong pro-Beijing technocrats and loyalists have demonstrated their loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party that they can do anything to safeguard the national security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Effectively, over the past six months, Hong Kong has been becoming more and more like one of the cities on the mainland.

This makes me worried that the NSL is so powerful and to be widely abused by the executors of it - it overrides the power and essence of the Basic Law, the mini-constitution of Hong Kong. It becomes more worrisome, when I read through a separate white booklet called “The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” with more details, which is supposed to be an insertion into Appendix III of the Basic Law.

All in all, the NSL white booklet gives you one clear message: in the name of national security, the Hong Kong government can do anything now to restrict your freedom, arrest and detain you without reasons provided, and that the NSL police who exercise the power can do anything to you- freezing of assets and confiscation of passports is the new normal. The 53 arrested are suspected of subverting the state power for their roles in the pro-democracy camp primary election, which is indeed white terror. The whole operation is of course politically driven.

The NSL has changed everything in Hong Kong; the “one country, two systems” model prescribed in the Basic Law is technically dead now. Since the enactment of the NSL six months ago, we have been seeing freedoms in Hong Kong decay at supersonic speed. The 7.5 million Hong Kongers have seen more and more the power and abuse of the NSL – the definitions are vague and weak, and Hong Kongers can easily fall into the trap, and get criminalized during their already heavily suppressed pursuit of freedoms.

Mike Pompeo made a strong public statement on the massive arrest of the Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp; the Secretary of State nominee for the upcoming Biden administration, Antony Blinken, commented the Biden-Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong against Beijing’s crackdown on democracy. The 53 pro-democracy figures have already gone through 2 days of interrogation, and now they need to report to the police on a regular basis, and their cellular phones are confiscated. When “evidence” gathered by the NSL police is sufficient, charges will be made against them, and there will be a long trial process, and the people will lose their freedom.

The incident of this week in Hong Kong has given rise to a chilling effect inside and outside the city once famed for being international. As long as there are moral and business interests from the outside world in Hong Kong, and as long as there is still moral force from the free world to monitor injustice worldwide, no one wants to see the sinking of Hong Kong go so fast that the city cannot be salvaged.

The arrest and detainment of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai in December 2020 was the beginning, and now the arrest, release of the 53 democracy activists on bail and the ban on their leaving Hong Kong indeed is viewed as the kick-start of the city’s nightmare. What will happen to Hong Kong next? What will the end game be like? Also, sources tell us that the Hong Kong government is paving the wave for a “Great Fire Wall” in the city to block the flow of information on certain specific websites. This will kill Hong Kong at a faster pace, if free flow of information is restricted.

I just wish that Hong Kong would not be cut off from the outside world abruptly. But with political changes, most of the time, there is no pre-warning. Indeed, Hong Kong is running out of time. One thing for sure, I know, is that Hong Kong is different now, and a new chapter on interrogation, harassment and living in fear is being written every day.

(Edward Chin (錢志健) runs a family office. Chin was formerly Country Head of a UK publicly listed hedge fund, the largest of its kind measured by asset under management. Outside the hedge funds space, Chin is Convenor of 2047 Hong Kong Monitor and a Senior Advisor of Reporters Without Borders (RSF, HK & Macau). Chin studied speech communication at the University of Minnesota, and received his MBA from the University of Toronto. Twitter: edwardckchin Youtube: Ed Chin Channel Facebook.com/edckchin Email: [email protected])

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