Hong Kong democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam were sentenced to jail for ‘unauthorized assembly.’ Jimmy Lai, the founder of media company Next Digital Lai was charged with fraud and detained until a court hearing in April next year. Many Western media see this as Beijing’s renewed crackdown on the city’s dissent. Some regard this as a stress test for the West, especially at a time when the U.S. is in the power transition.

In the territory, pro-democracy members of the Legislative Council have been cleared after some of them were disqualified and the others resigned in protest. Media, like Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) and i-Cable News, silenced their opposition after outspoken journalists either quit or were fired. Former pro-Independence representatives and opinion leaders are in exile. Universities warned dissenting scholars to keep silent or terminated their appointments. All of these occurred within months following the passage of a new national security law for Hong Kong. There’s virtually no room for opposition anymore.

The year 2020, which is nearing its end, is eventful. It is especially true in Hong Kong. The territory is experiencing the worst ever-shrinking of democracy and autonomy, rarely seen in modern political history. Since the end of two world wars in the 20th century, the rebuilding of the world order has taken European and American political systems as models. Feudalism, dictatorship, totalitarianism, military regime, and one-party dominancy are all considered backward and therefore should be ended. Instead, the transition to democracy is a rule and a goal, where two-party or multiple-party politics is a norm, with different parties coming to power in turns. It has a built-in defense mechanism to protect active opposition members and dissenting voices. Open media is essential and the cornerstone for the mechanism to function. And freedom of speech is enshrined as a universal value in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an important document adopted by the United Nations in 1948.

Transition to democracy, though seemingly unquestionable, has been challenged by the ideology and wolf-warrior diplomacy of the Chinese Communist Party, which places collective nation-state interests ahead of everything else. The claims of human rights are just the rhetoric of (Western countries) to cover up their imperial power and influence. International relations are in nature the contests of economic and military power. Therefore, the opposition and social movements in Hong Kong are just the pawns of the foreign forces to drag down China. What happened in the city is not a manifestation of the people’s will, nor ‘basic human rights.’ If there are such things as human rights, it should mean people cannot live in poverty. The rapid economic growth and poverty alleviation are China’s great contribution to universal human rights. It seeks to boast its achievements in the United Nations Human Rights Council and the World Economic Forum, seeking to reshape the standard of human rights.

In short, Hong Kong as a developed economy is undergoing an institutional and structural transformation, which runs counter to the development path of socialism. A question arises: Does economic development which is a top priority China insists contradict free speech or anti-government voices? The question is not uncommon for people in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Taiwan experienced rapid economic growth under Chiang’s authoritarian rule. Its people have a common answer to the question: Democracy can’t feed you. (You can’t live on democracy.) In the past, Hong Kong saw faster economic growth than Taiwan. The gap had been widening since the 1990s. The majority in Hong Kong saw no need for democratization as it led to ‘enormous chaos’ in Taiwan.

But in the long run, a nation’s economic growth will develop in tandem with free speech and democracy. Many studies suggest they are highly correlated statistically. A number of positive explanations are also found for their internal causal inferences. For example, freedom of speech (often accompanied by free markets) can counteract the inefficiency of crony capitalism and rent-seeking, a problem commonly seen in oligarchies. Economic development enables or demands intellectual enlightenment. Freedom of expression can help encourage innovation and eliminate corruption. Taiwan and South Korea are two examples of a successful transition to democracy, where rapid development is seen under efficient quasi-dictatorship. In Singapore, where one-party dominance and moderate free speech have long been a norm, is one of the few exceptions.

The generalizations mentioned above are incompatible with China’s recent development. China’s researchers are promoting China’s superior institutions around the world, intending to break or invalidate the positive correlation between democratization (in the West) and economic development. They are also seeking to rationalize the dictatorship of the Communist Party of China by praising the nation’s economic achievement. As fast economic growth is witnessed in China, the more true (whether in propaganda or in practice) the claim that China has superior institutions, the more it undermines Hong Kong’s century-old advantages as a hub between the East and the West. When Mainland China sees no need to access Western capital and skilled manpower via Hong Kong, the city’s role as a model is no longer needed, and its autonomy and free speech are under threat.

China’s worldwide efforts to challenge global institutions and the twist (or reversal) of Hong Kong’s system are vividly seen. This gives a lesson for Taiwan: In addition to sticking to our discourse of nationalism, we have to improve and consolidate the institutional systems, including open society, the rule of law, and values of democracy. People should recognize it is a choice of institutions instead of a choice of national identity. This serves as a premise for a more open immigration policy, the same as the U.K, Australia, and Japan have changed the visa rules for Hong Kongers.

(Chang, Shih-Chien, Associate professor of the Department of Communication at National Chung Cheng University, member of Media Reform Society)

Click here for Chinese version

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