EDGERTON SERIES: THE 23rd ANNIVERSARY OF THE HANDOVER AND THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG

BY LAUREN BATTEN

The Pacific Council recently hosted the fourth installment of the Edgerton Series on Responding to a Rising China, featuring Dr. Jeffrey Wasserstrom of UC Irvine and Joanna Chiu of the Toronto Star on the future of Hong Kong.

Here are takeaways from the discussion:

• “Hong Kong has always been a place of protests, since the 1980s,” Chiu said. “Laws in Hong Kong apply regardless of nationality. You can get arrested for having said something against China in the United States and then visiting Hong Kong or even having a layover there. This is also negatively impacting journalists, who are being targeted so that things aren’t being filmed or recorded. Hong Kong’s strong legal system had attracted businesses and economic factors, so changes by China are important to note.”

• “It’s unsettling that foreigners can be subject to this new law,” Wasserstrom said. “The two-system promise was made in ‘good faith’ but is being infringed upon now. I hoped that China would become more liberal and would want to be seen as keeping its promises by other superpowers. This experiment was working very well up until the 2010s. China has become more self-confident to tighten control.”

• “Protestors adopted the philosophy of ‘being water,’ meaning responding in real time to what was happening and using encrypted apps to act spontaneously, making their actions impossible to predict (in stark contrast to planning and advanced notice in the past),” Chiu said.

• Chiu pointed out that the police have a new banner now. During the Occupy movement, it used to read along the lines of “stand back or we will use pepper spray.” Now it’s a purple banner that says “you may be violating national security law.” “Police are being sent out to arrest people rather than peacefully working with protestors, and even speaking out against police can be interpreted as a threat worthy of imprisonment,” Chiu said.

• “China is acting like a colonial actor,” Wasserstrom said. “It is giving up the façade of collaboration. The United Kingdom should have a feeling of special responsibility here, and the world should show that it is paying attention. We can’t look away; we need to pay attention to incremental changes by China that aren’t high-profile. Collective action by multiple countries is necessary.”

The Edgerton Series on Responding to a Rising China aims to provide proactive and forward-looking solutions to some of the most complex local, regional, and global issues facing the United States and China today, through regular engagement in debates and discussions with the foremost experts in Chinese affairs. The Edgerton Series is made possible by generous support from the Edgerton Foundation. We thank Dr. Bradford and Ms. Louise Edgerton for their continued support of and dedication to the Pacific Council.

WATCH THE FULL CONVERSATION BELOW:

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The views and opinions expressed here are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.