The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that Chinese president Xi Jinping will travel to Hong Kong on Friday as the city will celebrate its 25th anniversary of transition from British to Chinese rule.
Hong Kong in many ways has been different from mainland China but the divisions are increasingly becoming blurred as China clamps down on the freedoms enjoyed by the city’s residents and tarnishing its reputation as a global financial center.
The sweeping clampdown on pro-democracy protests and the imposition of a sweeping national security law to curb dissent shows that the city is coming under the CCP’s control.
The fall of a democratic Hong Kong is the trophy Chinese president Xi Jinping will hold aloft as he seeks a smooth transition into his precedent breaking third term, since Covid Zero and a struggling economy has dented his image as China’s supreme leader.
It is unlikely that former police chief John Lee, the incoming Chief Executive, will stand against Xi in protecting and implementing the ‘high degree of autonomy’ which Hong Kong has been promised via its Basic Laws.
Hong Kong is being slowly reshaped in the authoritarian mold cast by the CCP and Xi Jinping.
Now Hong Kong’s civil servants are asked to stop asking too many questions regarding policies and what they bring to the table and are being blamed for holding up development, Bloomberg reported.
It also reported fewer press conferences and meetings with key stakeholders are being held.
Civil servants fear this will lead to poor policy making.
This is in stark contrast to the principles of openness and transparency that Hong Kong residents are used to.
Despite appealing to Beijing’s self-interest i.e. helping shore up its economy in the wake of lockdowns, Hong Kong will continue to bear the brunt of Xi’s political campaigns.
Xi did not allow Hong Kong’s exchange to list Chinese tech giant Ant Group Co following a crack down on tech firms. Xi also remains undecided whether to allow quarantine-free travel with either the mainland or the rest of the world.
His presence may indicate the city will have to learn to live with the virus but the authoritarian nature of Xi and the CCP will pose questions rather than answering them.
Also the mainland’s security agents are seen roaming freely in the streets of Hong Kong under Beijing’s new security law as they remain immune from Hong Kong’s laws.
Mandarin sees an aggressive push in schools and the expansion of China’s high-speed rail into the city in the 2010s means the city is being transformed according to the CCP and Xi’s wishes.
The China of 2003 is not the China of 2022. That year the CCP withdrew an unpopular national security bill after half a million of Hong Kong’s population hit the streets.
Now, pro-democracy protesters lament the imbalance of power between Hong Kong and China as their comrades are put behind bars by the police under orders from Beijing.
(with inputs from Bloomberg and AFP)
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