Looking at photos from Hong Kong of street fires, armored police, and the debris of mass protest is wrenching for those of us who were there when the seeds of this disaster were planted in the 1990s.
When I arrived in 1991, the atmosphere in the colony was one of bustling levity. Everything was high-energy. Economic growth was vertical. So was building construction. I’d look from the balcony of my eighth-floor apartment on the mountain slope of Hong Kong island as skyscrapers sprouted all around, like mushrooms, almost overnight. By 1993, when I left, my view of the harbor had been obscured from one horizon to the other.
The exuberance of the place was captured for me one sparkling day as I stood on that balcony marveling at it all. A white cockatoo, of which there are many in Hong Kong, flew by and squawked “Hello!” Sounds unlikely, but it’s true.
What protests there were back then were hard to take seriously. A senior officer in the Hong Kong police laughed recalling a hunger strike begun one morning. By lunchtime, the strikers were already weak and groaning as though they’d been off food for four days rather than four hours. They were so depleted that they decided to allow themselves a bowl of soup.
But, as 1997 became more visible on the horizon, a dark shadow lengthened over Hong Kong. Britain’s 99-year lease on the New Territories was due to expire, and the whole colony would be returned to China. Debate raged over what concessions London should extract from Beijing about the future government.
Senior British civil servants are known in Whitehall as “mandarins,” which was painfully ironic, for they seemed to side with the Chinese and resisted pressure from parliamentarians and news media to introduce more democracy to Hong Kong before it was too late. China, as always, had time on its side.
Eventually, London and Beijing agreed that Hong Kong should enjoy a distinct government and far more civil rights than most Chinese have. This dispensation was supposed to last half a century, until 2047.
People wondered if Beijing would honor the agreement. Now we know it won’t.
The handover used to be referred to jovially by some journalists as a big “Chinese takeaway” — it’s a joke that would not pass muster in today’s more easily offended times — but no one is laughing now, for Hong Kong’s freedoms and guarantees are being broken by the tyranny to its north.
The former colony is only 22 years into the 50 years of its international treaty, but Beijing sought the right to extradite Hong Kongers to face trial in China. This would extend Chinese law over Hong Kong. The local law to allow this was the proximate cause of months of protests. But the mass action is now more broadly about freedom and democracy, and it shows no sign of abating. It may gain momentum from a landslide win for pro-democracy candidates in recent elections.
Students protesting Chinese transgressions were mostly born after the 1997 handover. A largely free Hong Kong is all they have known. Under international law, they should be able to enjoy those freedoms until they are into late middle age or even elderly. So China’s abrogation is an existential matter for them, affecting their whole lives. It is as natural as it is admirable that young protesters continue to press their demands in the face of real danger, and even torture and beatings. There is no wimping out by lunchtime.
The United States must not wimp out either. It is desperately important to do everything possible to keep Beijing at bay. By winning 90% of seats available in the elections, pro-democracy candidates exploded the myth that student protesters are not supported by voting-age adults. It was a massive rebuke to China.
President Trump should not let hope of a trade deal deflect him from being a champion of freedom for Hong Kong. His administration should raise Beijing’s offenses at the United Nations. Trump should confound those who say he’s an autocrat by declaring his support for protesters. Clandestine help should also be considered, such as giving them satellite internet access and information about security force deployments.
These must be calibrated to avoid provoking Beijing into a Tiananmen-type crackdown. But America, as always, has a vital role to play in defending freedom. It must not slough off that duty now.