Without liberty, Hong Kong and the world will be poorer
Beijing has now acted to impose a new security law on Hong Kong, turning its back on the one country, two systems agreement to which it had committed when the former British colony returned to Chinese control in 1997. Hong Kong will be subject to the same sort of draconian infringements on liberty as mainland China, following a year of street protests demanding just the opposite. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has considered offering a path for British citizenship to some 3.5 million Hong Kong residents, now at risk of confronting police rule under the Chinese Communist Party. It s a generous offer, but while it may help individuals, it won t save Hong Kong.
Those who spent time in Hong Kong before its handover to the Communist government can t help but mourn the events unfolding there. Beijing s imposition of mainland-style limits on free speech, along with the stationing of security forces, marks the end of an era that combined free markets and individual liberty in the nominally self-governing territory. Hong Kong s churches, synagogues, museums, charities, and independent private schools will slowly disappear. The rule of law and its independent judiciary, fundamental to the city s role as an international financial capital, look to be headed for demise.