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Beijing Crushes Hong Kong, Sacrificing Jimmy Lai and 3 Demosisto Members|Hsiao Tu-Huan

蘋果日報 2020/12/06 10:42


In recent months, the student movement in Thailand has been in full swing, not only demanding a new constitution but also the reform of monarchy. Like streams of water, “flashmob protests” were quickly mobilized through Internet communities. All these reminded us of the Anti-Extradition movements in Hong Kong. The growing student movement in Thailand even formed a “Milk Tea Alliance” online with Hong Kong and Taiwan that defies authoritarian authority, which naturally caused Beijing’s concerns over maintaining the social stability in Hong Kong.
With the “flat” and “decentralized” nature of the Internet, leaders of the student movement appeal to “community” for recruitment, giving a sense of belonging and identity to younger participants of the movement “Fighting for Democracy, Defying Dictatorship” and strengthening their common belief that “we hope to usher in democracy in our generation.” Even the Thai and Hong Kong governments use various means to arrest student movement leaders and dissidents, the dream of pursuing freedom and democracy has been deeply engraved in the hearts of this generation.
In fact, since Hong Kong implemented the “Hong Kong National Security Law” on July 1 (June 30 11pm) this year, Beijing has gradually built a Great Firewall to block off Hong Kong from the outside world, brick by brick, decoupling the international community from the Hong Kong civil society with fear of violating the law. In addition, it has also made full use of the cooperation between the Hong Kong Department of Justice and the Police to initially achieve Xi Jinping’s goal of “stopping violence and chaos.” But curing only the symptoms but not the disease is not the ultimate goal. How to use legal means to eliminate possible threats is what Beijing aspires. A few days ago, the three young members of the Hong Kong student movement, Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow, and Ivan Lam, were sentenced to imprisonment. It might just be a start. The Hong Kong government will inevitably collect more unfavorable evidence and continue to increase the sentence until they can no longer have any influence in society, making an example out of them to deter their followers.

Setting an example to avoid bandwagon effect

In psychology, there is the so-called “bandwagon effect,” which refers to the fact that individuals will change their views and join a bigger group after being influenced by it. The grievances and feud of Beijing against Joshua Wong and others already started with the movement of the “Anti Hong Kong National Education” in 2012. After the “Umbrella Movement” of occupying Central in 2014 and the movement of “Anti Extradition Law” in 2019, Beijing dares not to overlook the significance this younger generation represents. Obviously, Beijing also believes that these young students and social movement leaders in Hong Kong are playing a leading role. If they do not deal with them actively, it will be difficult to reverse the progress of the younger generation in Hong Kong and their pursuit of democracy, even with the promotion of patriotism in education.
In addition to crushing leaders of the younger generation, Beijing has also actively tightened media control and suppressed Hong Kong’s press freedom in order to weaken the “bandwagon effect.” Various groups have noticed that the “i-CABLE News Channel” has recently fired 40 employees, triggering a number of leaders from the news team to resign in protest of political intervention. Since these dismissed reporters and employees have repeatedly reported on the civil movement and social conflicts in Mainland China and exposed the fraud and influence of pro-China polling organizations, they have naturally become the target of a swift removal.
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is at odds with Beijing, was also refused bail by the Hong Kong government on Dec 3 and continued to be held in custody, and his case was also postponed until April next year. It sends out a strong message of setting an example, and these people have become the sacrifice for Beijing to crush the democracy and freedom of Hong Kong.
Since the Handover, the Hong Kong government has never been able to solve the structural dilemma of the society, and the uneven distribution of social resources caused by the political structure has always been criticized, which eventually gave rise to the discontent of the younger generations of society, so that they resorted to universal suffrage and expected to reform politics. Even though the “Umbrella Movement” lasted only two and a half months, it had already given Beijing a great warning and became a milestone in the political development of Hong Kong after its handover. Since then, Beijing has started to implement a new political system in Hong Kong.
According to Yan Xiaojun, associate professor of the Department of Politics and Public Administration of the University of Hong Kong, Beijing has four key points in managing Hong Kong. The first is to rebuild the political trust between China and Hong Kong, which will be the core task of politics in Hong Kong. The second is to ensure that the country’s sovereignty, security, and development interests are safeguarded to maintain Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability. The third is the emphasis on and the skillful use of the flexibility and interactivity of the political structure of One Country, Two Systems. The fourth is to prevent the new impact on the existing political system from the younger generation and the rise of the new political powers.
In particular, the rise of new political powers has clearly become a feature of Hong Kong’s political development since 2014. Whether it is Nathan Law or Ray Wong who have left Hong Kong or Edward Leung who is now serving sentences for rioting with his slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times,” their shared feature is that they are from the younger generation with a strong appeal, and their course of hitting the bricks and going international has become a consensus among the younger generation. They have long troubled Beijing deeply.
Looking to the future, as long as the promise of universal suffrage in the Hong Kong Basic Law is not realized, it will be difficult to eliminate society’s expectations for democracy. Although Beijing has demonstrated strong political and legal repressive power, to both deter young followers and to convey its determination to fight off challenges against its sovereignty. However, the younger generation will not stop in their steps toward democracy. Beijing could imprison their bodies but their hearts will continue to pursue democracy. Taiwan, with its democracy, should really support the efforts of the Hong Kong society to pursue democracy.
(Hsiao Tu-Huan, deputy secretary-general of Friends of Hong Kong and Macau Association and adjunct Assistant Professor of the Department of Political Science at the Chinese Culture University.)
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