One of the great obsessions of foreign media during Hong Kong’s summer of 2019 was the troops-at-the-border scenario: The People’s Liberation Army(PLA) surging across from Shenzen and storming the streets to produce a Tiananmen Square 2.0.

What made the well-worn “PLA threat” narrative so misleading – other than the presence of numerous PLA garrisons within Hong Kong’s borders – was that there was no need for PLA involvement when the Hong Kong Police Force(HKPF) were already doing the dirty work for their mainland puppet masters anyway.

So, while triggering off happy police indiscriminately firing tears gas, rubber bullets and sponge grenades, terrorizing anybody in their path – including children, residents and passerby’s – and protesters had already prioritized an independent inquiry among their five key demands, Hongkongers then had to listen to how much worse it would be if the tanks had rolled in.

Given what Hongkongers witnessed first-hand, and the hundreds of hours of video evidence of police brutality broadcast to the world since, nobody should be surprised when the Hong Kong Police Force start goose step-style marching – trained in the PLA style and forgoing the British tradition – at the sixth annual “National Security Education Day” on April 15.

The news that selected Hong Kong services, including sections of the despised police force, would be high-stepping their way through a parade, PLA-style, was “broken” in the South China Morning Post(SCMP).

(And when we say the story was “broken”, we mean handed by government sources to a news organization that is a Communist Party of China(CCP)-ordered fire sale away from being transformed from a Jack Ma soft-power vanity project into a full-blown state media outlet at any moment).

When foreign media, and British government officials, see the police marching at the upcoming propaganda day, the type of event resembling the surreal authoritarian theatre we are accustomed to seeing in China and North Korea, will they finally recognize what those on the streets have known since 2019: that the HKPF is a CCP militia?

The HKPF is nothing more than a paramilitary group that was already adept in arbitrary and unlawful detention of protesters, but now National Security Law(NSL) has given the officers even more power.

Some might feel that coming back to the issue of Hong Kong’s police is redundant given all that has transpired in the last 18-months, especially the creation of NSL, detention of pro-democracy figures and delaying of election reforms – not to mention the creation of a NSL-focused force of ‘secret police’ – but the Hong Kong police were and remain the thin end of the wedge when it comes to enforcing the CCP’s will on Hong Kong.

It is one of Britain’s great shames in all of this that one of the vestiges of colonial Hong Kong, a police force considered one of the finest in Asia and still peppered with British nationals, could be turned on the people so viciously.

Recently I had the chance to speak to UK parliamentarians regarding NSL and its effects on freedom of the press and the question of British nationals in the HKPF was raised. The assumption was that if there were Brits in positions of power that they would leave the force as a matter of principle. Alas, there have been no conscientious objectors to the force’s rampant violence and three Englishman in particular – Rupert Dover, David Jordan and Vasco “Yellow Object” Williams – have been highly visible and used as political pawns.

All three have received awards and risen through the ranks and remain highly recognizable faces of a force reveling in its status as a CCP goon squad.

Suggesting sanctions for those involved in the Hong Kong Police Force, like travel bans or freezing of assets, would be a clear violation of NSL – so we won’t do that – but what we can do as journalists is trying to ensure, as best we can, that the police actions over the last few years are remembered for what they were: violent suppression of freedom and flagrant violations of human rights.

One of the helpful “government sources” helping SCMP with its announcement added that, “Performing British foot drills when promoting the importance of national security does not seem right.” Well, the source got that right, and goose-step marching to the beat of a CCP drum might be the most transparent act the HKPF has undertaken in a very long time.

Hopefully when the world starts seeing Hong Kong’s police marching like soldiers they will realize what Hongkonrgers have long known: there was no need to fear PLA intervention, the oppressors were already here.

(Michael Cox is a journalist and Hong Kong permanent resident currently based in Australia. He has previously written for the South China Morning Post, The Age (Melbourne) and Australian Associated Press.)

We invite you to join the conversation by submitting columns to our opinion section: [email protected]

Apple Daily reserves the right to refuse, abridge, alter or edit guest opinion columns for accuracy, length, clarity, and style, and the right to withdraw and withhold columns based on the discretion of our editorial page editors.

The opinions of the writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial board.

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play