The June Fourth Incident is becoming increasingly unfamiliar to young people in mainland China. For Hong Kong people, the memory is still fresh in their minds. For the first time since the noose of the National Security Law was fastened around Hong Kong’s neck, the police laid siege to Victoria Park on the anniversary of the incident, preventing a candlelight vigil – a yearly event that had been held for 31 years – from taking place and shutting citizens outside. Taking orders from Beijing, the Hong Kong Government made an all-out effort to thwart the commemoration of the June Fourth Incident the same way the mainland authorities do. The candlelight at Victoria Park went out.

The light of candles at Victoria Park is the embodiment of conscience. This fundamental conscience of humans is precisely what the Beijing authorities are desperate to crush. The candlelight also symbolizes the passing down of the consciousness of what is right or wrong. Hong Kongers are different from mainlanders because Hong Kongers used to enjoy political freedom, and their pursuit of political freedom from generation to generation is also a poke in the eye to Beijing. More importantly, the candlelight is an integral part of Hong Kong’s political freedom, and its disappearance has marked the beginning of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s drive to force Hong Kong into total political submission.

After the June Fourth crackdown, the CCP expanded the Reform and Opening Up policy and joined the WHO, which resulted in a period of prosperity. However, the June Fourth crackdown had already put limitations on the scope of reform that China could pursue from the 1990s to the beginning of this century. Regardless of how vigorously the CCP advanced economic reform, the CCP had, in the wake of the crackdown, decided on its approach to governing China – that it would cling to power no matter what happened, and would never loosen its grip on power. China will never have a “Velvet Revolution” that happened in central Europe, nor will it ever relax its politically oppressive policies to accommodate economic liberalization. If there were still people in the past who were somewhat hopeful about China following the trend of the democratization of the former Communist bloc countries, the death of “One Country, Two Systems” has given them a clear answer. If China is economically successful, the CCP will not loosen its grip on power. The CCP will be even less likely to do so if China is economically unsuccessful.

Hong Kong’s traditional rule of law guarantees Hong Konger’s political freedom and the safety of their property. Now, the CCP’s legal system (which, in essence, is the party’s control of the people) has replaced the rule of law in Hong Kong. Hong Kong people have been stripped of their political freedom. As for the taking away of their right to their personal property, this is being done in the name of the National Security Law. Julie Zaugg, a journalist with the French newspaper Le Figaro, has written an analytical piece recently on this.

When Hong Kong people’s freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and electoral freedom are being trampled on one by one until they are completely taken away, Apple Daily, the only symbol of free press, will be a criterion for assessing whether press freedom – the only freedom that is left in Hong Kong – can survive. For the readers of Apple Daily, not only is the newspaper the mark of a free source of information, but it is also the last line of defense against the mainlandization of Hong Kong. If this line of defense falls apart, the internet censorship system of mainland China will be the next thing to happen in Hong Kong. This way, Hong Kong will become just another Shenzhen. If Hong Kong loses all the abovementioned freedoms, will it not become basically just another city in mainland China, even if all the horse racing and dancing goes on as before (as promised by Deng Xiaoping)? After all, there are also lottery stores and dance halls on the mainland.

Now, the CCP’s plan to kill off Hong Kong’s political freedom could not be clearer. All the indications are that the CCP, in complete disregard of the view of the international community, will not call it quits until its aim is achieved. No doubt there is another possibility – perhaps the CCP has already assessed Hong Kong’s future status as a financial center and thinks that even if its acts of political suppression will undermine its economic status, that will not matter much. Such a judgment must have been made based on the assumption that Hong Kong is making a smaller contribution to the mainland economy than before. The CCP might have even assumed that it will be difficult to repair its relations with the US in the future.

The military confrontation between China and the US seems to have stopped for now. With their aircraft carriers far away from the East China Sea and the South China Sea, the countries are not at daggers drawn anymore. But it remains to be seen whether the landing of a US Air Force C-17 freighter in Taiwan will have repercussions. Recently, the Biden Administration has had two conversations with Beijing on economic issues, and there is a hint that the two countries’ bilateral economic relations are easing. But at the same time, there are emerging calls in the US and the international community for an investigation into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some American institutions’ funding of the Wuhan Institute of Virology has even been dug up. The domestic political pressure generated by these sentiments will definitely make it difficult for the Biden administration to talk business (but nothing else) with China. Though inflation in China is diminishing the returns of the manufacturing industry, so much so that Beijing is urgently seeking to expand its exports to the US, it does not seem that the future Sino-US relationship will develop in a way Beijing desires. This, in turn, will mean the star of Hong Kong’s economy will fade further.

(Cheng Xiaonong, visiting scholar in the United States)

This article is translated from Chinese by Apple Daily.

Click here for Chinese version

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