习近平在香港回归中国 25 周年之际对香港的访问有助于证实北京致力于全面征服这个前英国殖民地。习近平在讲话中歪曲了“一国两制”的含义，以符合他“爱国者”统治香港的愿景。与此同时，47 名民主政治家和活动家可能因虚假的国家安全指控而面临终身监禁。
The paranoid security, goose-stepping police and Putin-esque social distance Xi maintained from his subjects reflected simmering discontent in Hong Kong, but Beijing’s draconian grip prevents the people shaping their own future as they tried to do in mass protests in 2019 and 2020.
Hongkongers can only look forlornly overseas for hope. Unfortunately, despite British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge that ‘we’re not giving up on Hong Kong’, there is scant prospect of Hong Kong regaining the freedoms the Chinese Communist Party has stolen.
But even if Hong Kong is effectively lost, we must still ensure Beijing feels the cost of its actions to deter it from further aggression.
So far, international condemnation has been piecemeal and ineffective. Western politicians marked the 1 July anniversary with familiar rhetoric. Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Beijing to uphold the freedoms guaranteed until 2047 by the Sino-British Joint Declaration, an extant treaty registered at the UN, and enshrined in the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s de facto constitution.
But even the West’s appetite for statements is receding. While the G7 criticised John Lee’s appointment as Hong Kong’s chief executive in May, there was nothing jointly marking 1 July like the Five Eyes’ statements of the past. In joint action at the UN, Hong Kong slips behind Xinjiang in the rollcall of Chinese human rights abuses. Burdened with the combined challenge posed by China and Russia, and dealing with supply shortages, inflation and looming recession, the West lacks the bandwidth to keep international attention focused on Hong Kong.
Beyond public rhetoric, legal avenues look uninviting.
There is no realistic hope of using an international court to hold Beijing to account for breaching treaty commitments. And, as the Philippines discovered over the South China Sea in 2016, China simply ignores arbitral decisions its doesn’t like. Some foreign judges have withdrawn cooperation with Hong Kong’s highest court to avoid what British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the risk of ‘legitimising oppression’. But a handful of retired foreign judges, including three from Australia, have exercised their independence by staying—much to the enjoyment of CCP propagandists.
So far, international condemnation has been piecemeal and ineffective. Western politicians marked the 1 July anniversary with familiar rhetoric. Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Beijing to uphold the freedoms guaranteed until 2047 by the Sino-British Joint Declaration, an extant treaty registered at the UN, and enshrined in the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s de facto constitution.
But even the West’s appetite for statements is receding. While the G7 criticised John Lee’s appointment as Hong Kong’s chief executive in May, there was nothing jointly marking 1 July like the Five Eyes’ statements of the past. In joint action at the UN, Hong Kong slips behind Xinjiang in the rollcall of Chinese human rights abuses. Burdened with the combined challenge posed by China and Russia, and dealing with supply shortages, inflation and looming recession, the West lacks the bandwidth to keep international attention focused on Hong Kong.
Beyond public rhetoric, legal avenues look uninviting.
There is no realistic hope of using an international court to hold Beijing to account for breaching treaty commitments. And, as the Philippines discovered over the South China Sea in 2016, China simply ignores arbitral decisions its doesn’t like. Some foreign judges have withdrawn cooperation with Hong Kong’s highest court to avoid what British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the risk of ‘legitimising oppression’. But a handful of retired foreign judges, including three from Australia, have exercised their independence by staying—much to the enjoyment of CCP propagandists.
