How CCP Canceled Hong Kong
and what really happened in the Summer of 2019
Once upon a time, Hong Kong was a free city, an open society. It had the rule of law, a free market, and civil society.
Three years ago, I witnessed the power of Hong Kong’s civil society. It was the most beautiful moment I have seen. On Jun 16, 2019, two million people assembled peacefully to fight for Hong Kong’s future.
We did not know each other, but we knew there was one thing we could agree on:
We, the people of Hong Kong, should be free to say “No.”
The End of the One Country Two Systems
For a very long time, the people of Hong Kong believed the “One Country Two Systems” (OCTS) was a promise to the Hong Kong people. Mainstream media refers to the OCTS as the promised CCP made.
We were wrong.
The CCP sees the OCTS was a design for China to remain an authoritarian regime while tapping the benefits of the international financial market.
In other words, The OCTS was only valuable as long as China needed the money.
The only thing the CCP cares about is its own survival, its own relevance.
In the 1980s and 1990s, access to the global financial system helped the CCP transform its underperforming economy and avert the economic hardship that broke the Soviet Union.
Although the freedom to say no to the CCP does not mean we were subverting its authoritarian regime, it is not how a totalitarian regime sees the world.
Not too many people heard of Operation Fox Hunt. In 2014, the CCP dispatched national security agents overseas to harass and arrest its former party members. The party sees the renegades’ threats. If anyone can leave the country and escape the party’s absolute control, it could open up a slippery slope for more defiance to the party.
Preceding the introduction of the Extradition Bill to Hong Kong, a Canadian-Hong Kong businessman, Xiao Jianhua (蕭建華), was forcibly abducted under broad daylight in Hong Kong to mainland China to be trialed. The Chinese government has wanted Xiao since 2013. There was a rumor that Xiao was associated with the competing faction of the party that fell out of favor. The illegal extraction of Xiao from Hong Kong caused a concern. No one knows how many other party renegades reside in the city.
In March 2019, during the annual congressional meeting in Beijing, a former deputy head of the public security said the Chinese government had a list of 300 wanted fugitives residing in Hong Kong.
The murder of Poon Hiu Wing was only a cover-up for the introduction of the Extradition Bill. Carrie Lam and the Hong Kong Government lied about the intention of the legislation. The CCP wanted the Extradition Bill. The administration had to force it through regardless of the consequences.
On June 15, 2019, the evening before the two million people march, Carrie Lam said the Extradition Bill would be suspended. It was not a withdrawal. Not an end. It was not even clear if she was the one who called the shot.
Hong Kong has passed the point of no return. The people of Hong Kong could no longer trust the government. On June 16, 2019, two million people went to the street. Hong Kong people had five demands, namely:
(1) complete withdrawal of the legislation;
(2) retract the “riot” classification of the incident on June 12 outside the legislative council;
(3) release and exonerate people arrested on June 12;
(4) appoint an independent commission to investigate police brutality;
(5) resignation of Carrie Lam;
Was universal suffrage on the agenda? Some believe fixing the system is more critical than replacing the people. But some may only want to hold Carrie Lam accountable for her incompetence and dishonesty.
Unfortunately, the antagonism escalated.
Even though the democratic camp had a landslide victory in the District Council Elections in November 2019, the Hong Kong government rendered the institution defunct. Then COVID-19 hit. In the name of disease control, the government annihilated the rule of law in Hong Kong, its civil society, and the pretense of a “balanced participation.”
At last, the totalitarian regime looms over Hong Kong. Everything we cherished was gone.
Can free-market capitalism survive under totalitarianism?
Is China a capitalist nation?
China is ruled by a totalitarian regime. It can have as many stock exchanges as it wants, but having such institutions is not the same as practicing free-market capitalism.
When Milton Friedman proposed in 1995 to index and rank the economic freedom of nations, he might have Hong Kong in his mind. Milton said the world would be much better if China became more like Hong Kong. In the 1990s, most people believed it was only a matter of time for China to become more open and democratic.
Since the 1980s, the CCP has made economic growth and prosperity its signature policy. However, even today, 600 million people in China make less than 1000 RMB a month. The bottom 50% of the Chinese population made approximately 15% of the national income. Although it is titled the People’s Republic, China’s income distribution is more uneven than the USA’s.
China’s economic growth has slowed since 2010. The CCP has desperately searched for a new raison d’être for the one-party rule. It hoped the xenophobic call to arm against the western hegemony and further consolidation of powers would hold everything together for them.
The CCP goes all the way to present the west as the root of all the problems. In the past two years, we have seen the CCP clamping down on a list of things, from the US-listed technology companies to pop-culture idols, online games, English language learning, and even the gambling industry in Macao.
Hong Kong, the poster boy for freedom, the antithesis of totalitarianism, was canceled.
Civil society and free-market capitalism go hand-in-hand. Both begin with people asking, “What can I do for a better tomorrow?” The free association of people and voluntary exchange solve the most complex problems no single individual can fathom.
The Hong Kong resistance movement in 2019 epitomizes how a passionate state of mind meets rationalistic deliberation. People who had never met nor knew each other conversed anonymously and came up with campaign ideas. Despite the differences in opinion, we also see the common grounds.
On the contrary, totalitarian regimes hate the idea that people can work out their solutions. Dictators see themselves as the only answer to everything. But they ignore the cost of controlling absolutely everything that grows indefinitely and exponentially.
Eventually, the structure that holds up totalitarianism will collapse under its own weight.
Be water, my friend. Truth shall prevail. Freedom shall prevail.
Originally published unsubject.substack.com
