HONG KONG
SINCE 2019 protests
7 April, 2024
Just the summary:
Hong Kong passed a new national security law in March, but the muted domestic response shows how much the political landscape has changed since large protests in 2019.
More than 10,000 people, including activists, politicians and journalists, have been arrested in relation to the protests so far.
Of those arrested, only 28% have been prosecuted, while thousands are still awaiting trial in a state of "legal limbo".
Many residents have left the city after the crackdown, with at least 135,400 Hong Kongers relocating to the UK.
Number of foreign companies' regional headquarters in Hong Kong declined by 13.3% between 2019 and 2023.
Last month Hong Kong passed a new security law sparking protests in cities around the world.
No protests were seen in Hong Kong itself, as the city continues to endure a clampdown on civil liberties following popular protests in 2019.
The new law, known as Article 23, targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, espionage and external interference in Hong Kong affairs. It was passed unanimously by Hong Kong’s parliament, which has been dominated by pro-Beijing officials since 2021.
The law also enables the authorities to detain suspects without charge for up to 16 days, conduct trials behind closed doors and can apply to actions that take place overseas.
The muted domestic reaction exemplifies how the political climate of Hong Kong has changed dramatically since 2019.
That year up to 2 million people demonstrated against another bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China, in what turned out to be the largest protest in Hong Kong’s history.
The crackdown from the authorities that followed the 2019 protests eroded the freedoms Hong Kongers had enjoyed for over a century.
Now, many of the government’s critics are behind bars or have fled the city, and several independent news outlets have been closed.
Timeline
Hong Kong was under British rule for 156 years. In this time, it developed a distinct political identity with a capitalist economy and a legal system based on British common law.
In 1997 the UK handed Hong Kong back to China after the two countries agreed that Hong Kong would retain a certain degree of freedom and autonomy under the “one country, two systems” policy.
Hong Kong’s mini-constitution (the Basic Law) states that its way of life and systems must remain unchanged until 2047.
Historically, any perceived deviations from this principle stoked unrest among the population.
So when the Hong Kong government announced plans to allow extradition of suspects to mainland China in February 2019 it was hardly unusual that people took to the streets.
But as the size of protests grew, these clashes became increasingly violent.
A Hong Kong man stabbed a law enforcement officer in the arm. On another occasion, a policeman shot an 18-year-old protester in the chest at close range.
Riot police conducted mass arrests and deployed tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets against the protesters.
These incidents split the people and businesses of Hong Kong into those supporting the police and those siding with the protesters.
After more than 6 months the government decided to scrap the extradition bill, but this concession was no longer enough.
The demonstrators put forward 5 demands -– universal suffrage, an inquiry into police brutality, amnesty for the arrested protesters and a retraction of authorities’ classification of demonstrators as “rioters”, in addition to the complete withdrawal of the extradition bill which had already been achieved.
However, the protest movement was dampened when Hong Kong introduced a ban on gatherings of over 4 people in March 2020 as part of Covid restrictions, effectively curtailing mass demonstrations.
In June 2020, China introduced a national security law (NSL) for Hong Kong that further clamped down on political dissent in the city.
Crackdown
The 2020 national security law criminalised secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign organisations.
Convictions under this vaguely worded law, in the most severe cases, could result in life imprisonment.
Pro-democracy activists and media outlets were some of the first targets of the law.
In August 2020, Jimmy Lai, the founder of pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, was accused under the new law of “colluding with foreign forces”.
His trial for this charge is still ongoing, but he has since served two jail sentences on unrelated charges of unauthorised assembly and fraud, and Apple Daily was forced to shut in June 2021 after its assets were frozen.
The authorities similarly cracked down on another major independent media outlet, Stand News, and at least two other online news sites, Mad Dog Daily and Citizen News, closed out of fears of suffering the same fate.
The Civil Human Rights Front protest coalition, which organised annual rallies on July 1, the anniversary of the end of British rule in the city, disbanded in 2021 after the arrest of its leader.
Some 10,279 people were arrested in connection to the protests between June 2019 and October 2022, according to authorities. Of those arrested, only 2,899 (or 28%) were prosecuted by April 2023.
Thousands more were stuck in legal limbo for months and years as Hong Kong’s courts struggled under the caseload.
Georgetown University researchers found that the charges levelled in these cases involved 100 different non-NSL offences: the most common were “unlawful assembly” and “possession of offensive weapons” which reportedly were often laser pointers.
As of January 2024, 291 people have been arrested for suspected breaches of the NSL, according to the security bureau. Of these, 174 people were charged, while 111 were convicted or awaiting sentencing.
In November 2020, mainland China’s government ruled that Hong Kong’s government could remove lawmakers from parliament without court approval.
Some 4 elected democrats were disqualified under this resolution and the remaining 15 pro-democracy legislators resigned in protest – which resulted in an almost completely pro-Beijing parliament.
In 2021, 47 prominent opposition figures, including academics, social workers, activists and former lawmakers, were arrested and charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion”.
The trial was only concluded in November 2023 and, as of the date of publication, those who have been arrested are still awaiting their verdicts.
Backlash
In response to China’s clamp down on the city, several Western countries suspended their extradition treaties with Hong Kong and raised concerns over the independence of its criminal justice system.
The US sanctioned Hong Kong and Chinese officials deemed to have eroded the city’s autonomy from Beijing, revoked Hong Kong’s special trade status and restricted exports of defence equipment to the city.
The European Union and the UK also placed export bans on military equipment and other items that could be used for repression, such as surveillance technology, to Hong Kong.
The UN and many other international organisations issued statements condemning the Beijing and Hong Kong authorities for their actions.
However, at the UN Human Rights Council in 2020, only 27 governments opposed China’s national security law for Hong Kong while only 53 backed it.
Chinese officials have blamed “foreign forces” such as the US and the UK for fuelling the protests and stressed that Hong Kong’s affairs are China’s internal affairs.
The Hong Kong government, meanwhile, has defended its actions as lawful, calling criticism by countries, organisations and politicians “irresponsible and unsubstantiated”.
Exodus
The mass arrests of peaceful protesters and critical voices in Hong Kong as well as the rapid erosion of freedoms has led many to flee the city since 2019.
In January 2021, the UK began granting Hong Kongers with British National Overseas (BNO) status and their children the right to reside in Britain.
135,400 Hong Kongers had relocated to the UK under this program by September 2023, according to the British government.
Other countries, such as Canada and Australia, have also opened pathways for Hong Kong residents to obtain permanent residency more easily.
Foreigners also left – the number of non-local students at Hong Kong’s international schools fell 12 percent from 2019 to 2023 as expat families relocated, according to the education bureau.
In 2020, Hong Kong saw an unprecedented net outflow – the number of people who left minus those who arrived – of 96,400 residents.
Economy
The number of foreign companies with regional headquarters in Hong Kong fell by 13.3 percent between 2019 and 2023, with 63,000 fewer people engaged in jobs in such companies, official numbers show.
More than a third of global fund management companies relocated regional and global offices out of the city, as they faced trouble hiring, according to a survey by the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association in 2022.
In addition, official numbers show that the city’s labour force shrunk every year since 2019, and in 2022 was at a decade low.
Hong Kong’s real GDP fell in 3 of the past 5 years, but partially recovered last year after the pandemic restrictions were lifted.
However, the 2019 protests and the subsequent crackdown coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, it is hard to tell how much of this impact was due to the political situation or the city’s tough coronavirus measures.
What’s next?
The international community is still processing the passing of Article 23 in Hong Kong, but the US has already announced it will impose visa restrictions on more Hong Kong officials deemed to be responsible for suppressing rights and freedoms in the city.
EU officials have warned that aside from potentially further eroding the rights and freedoms in the city, the latest developments raise questions over Hong Kong’s long-term attractiveness as an international business hub.
Foreign businesses have expressed concerns that the law’s vaguely-worded provisions against espionage may hamper their ability to gather and share data as part of routine operations, resulting in more difficult business conditions similar to those in mainland China.
Author Ella Zhao
Editor Anton Kutuzov