“Hong Kong’s been put into handcuffs by the Chinese regime,” said the last colonial-era governor, Chris Patten, who accused Beijing of breaking commitments it made to preserve Hongkongers’ freedoms after the 1997 handover.

Widely recognized as an international and free city, Hong Kong’s situation was now worrying, Patten said in an interview with France 24 television channel, citing the national security law, arrests of democrats and the presence of Chinese security agents.

The Chinese Communist Party cannot be trusted, given a pattern of behavior that includes coercive diplomacy, border conflict with India, threats to Taiwan and navy maneuvers in the South China Sea, Patten said.

Under President Xi Jinping, the party has decided that the real threats to its leadership are the rule of law and freedom of speech — and it sees Hong Kong as a symbol of both, Patten said.

“It’s not an argument between China and Hong Kong. It’s an argument between the Chinese Communist Party and the aspiration for [China’s] incorporation of rule of law,” he said.

Pattern disagreed with the suggestion that the United Kingdom and the European Union did not give enough support to Hongkongers in their fight to defend the city’s autonomy. He pointed to the joint statement of concern from 39 countries, and London’s decision to make it easier for British National (Overseas) passport holders to move to the U.K.

“We really have to call China out on the abysmal behavior that they have been showing, and make clear to them that they can’t get away any longer with the bullying they have tried over the decades,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen said the arrest of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was part of a campaign of “political intimidation” to suppress freedom of expression.

The case Lai was initially arrested over — relating to a land-lease issue — was not even a criminal one, but it was transferred to the police National Security Department, meaning that it had been classified as much more serious, Zen told the Catholic News Agency.

It was ridiculous that Lai was denied bail for the “trivial” case, even though he was granted bail for other political cases in the past, Zen said.

After the national security law was enacted, the Diocese of Hong Kong issued directives to Catholic schools on “fostering the correct values on national identity” and respecting the Chinese flag and national anthem.

“I have often said that there would not be any religious freedom when there is no freedom,” Zen said.

In the past, the church was key to promoting values like human dignity and freedom in Hong Kong, but that role has been eroded, Zen said.

“When the students came out in the [pro-democracy] movement, I’m sorry to say that not that many Catholics could I count among them,” Zen said. “The education in Christian schools, both Catholic and Protestant, surely can cultivate and empower students with important values which can explain the courage to stand up against the attempt of the government to enslave our citizens.”

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