“I approach this 25th anniversary with great sadness. I am sad to see that this Hong Kong that I loved has disappeared, says Jean-Pierre Cabestan sinologist, director of research at the CNRS on a long-term mission in Hong Kong. political and intellectual has disappeared, all freedoms have disappeared. Only the ‘patriots’, those close to Beijing, hold the city and this is part of this democratic recession that we see everywhere in the world, in China as in Russia”.
This former professor of political science is not the only one to live with bitterness this July 1, the day of the 25th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to China. As Xi Jinping celebrates what he calls a “new chapter” for the “special administrative region”, for many the heart is not in it. On the facades of the huge skyscrapers as on the filthy housing estates of the “fragrant port”, the Chinese flags rub shoulders, imposing, with those of Hong Kong, smaller, adorned with a white flower of Bauhinia with five petals on a red background.
Xi Jinping’s first outing
Proof that this anniversary means a lot to the Chinese regime, Xi Jinping traveled to Hong Kong for the celebrations this Thursday, June 30 for a two-day visit – his first outing from mainland China since the start of the pandemic, there is two and a half years ! The Chinese leader said Hong Kong has managed to “reborn from the fire with robust vitality”. “During the past period, Hong Kong has experienced more than one serious ordeal and overcome more than one risk and challenge,” the Chinese president said. Xi’s trip is an opportunity for the Chinese Communist Party to show its control over the city after the wave of pro-democracy protests that engulfed the city in 2019, prompting Beijing to impose a harsh political crackdown.
The communist regime will not have waited the 50 years stipulated by the terms of the retrocession agreement signed in December 1984 by the British crown and the People’s Republic of China to tear down the borders and put a de facto end to the principle of “one country two systems”, which was to guarantee the fundamental freedoms of Hong Kong until 2047. Twenty-five years only after the handover, Hong Kong is already a Chinese city almost like the others. A city without demonstrations, without debates, endowed with a puppet Parliament where only those faithful to the communist regime sit and where historical nihilism invites itself into the classrooms.
From the start of the school year, Hong Kong will be entitled, as in mainland China, to patriotic education courses, the textbooks of which even affirm that British domination never existed! “All the fears that Hong Kong people had in 1997, when the handover took place, have been proven to be true. This anniversary is a sad day, a day when Xi Jinping and Hong Kong leaders tell us that everything is great while Hong Kong people are gagged”, comments Nathan Law from his exile in London, via video conference.
King of the world
This young activist was only three years old at the time of the handover. Her story is like that of millions of others, that of a poor family illegally leaving China to try their luck in Hong Kong. Twenty years later, Nathan Law is the youngest member of Parliament and founded with Joshua Wong, another figure in the pro-democracy movement, the “Demosito” party, which is now banned. “For 25 years the communist regime has done everything to limit freedoms in Hong Kong, but since Xi Jinping came to power ten years ago, everything has accelerated, continues Nathan Law. Xi is an authoritarian man, he wants to upset the world order and become the king of the world. He is very confident in his authoritarian system and wants to establish it in Hong Kong”, explains the young man, who has become one of the rare spokespersons for dissent.
How far away they seem, the hopes of 2019, when these young democratic activists organized monster demonstrations in the streets of the city, bringing together up to a quarter of the population! Since then, 183 people have been arrested under the national security law adopted in 2020, which punishes heavy prison sentences for the slightest critical voice. “The communist regime destroyed the autonomy of my hometown, Joshua Wong told us at the time. What we want is freedom and democracy instead of the permanent interference of this authoritarian regime. ” “We have no hope and no confidence in the principle ‘one country two systems’. We believe that the only way is independence”, dared to proclaim Andy Chan, co-founder of the “Hongkong National Party”. Words that earned him prison today.
Tenacity of Hong Kongers
Today, this hatred of the Communist Party still exists, but it is no longer expressed in the streets or in the media. Newspapers like Apple Daily have had to go out of business because of their positions that are too critical of power and no one dares to speak freely anymore. “The people of Hong Kong see the Chinese government taking swift action to destroy their democratic society, explains Maya Wang, China specialist at Human Rights Watch. But Beijing must not underestimate the tenacity and creativity of Hong Kongers in their struggle. for democracy and human rights. Other governments should support these efforts.”
But who will rise up against the Middle Empire? “In France, I met officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but they are very cautious, they do not want to alienate China, regrets Nathan Law. A country like France, which wants to be an ardent defender of democracy and human rights, should do more for Hong Kong, but also for Xinjiang, Tibet or Taiwan.”
Be that as it may, the hope for a democratic compromise has completely disappeared in just two years. “From the point of view of the Communist Party, it is a victory which reduces the political gap between Hong Kong and the rest of China and which above all eliminates a future political danger, believes Jean-Pierre Cabestan. Hong Kong is no longer a base of subversion that could have an influence on the rest of China. This big step backwards is neither a victory for the Chinese nor for democracy.”