What happens in Hong Kong after the (farce) election of John Lee
Is Hong Kong destined to sink into the abyss of autocracy? Marco Orioles's article
As shown by the arrest of 90-year-old Cardinal Zen , one of the best-known supporters of the democratic camp and opponent of the 2018 agreement between China and the Vatican, the framework of fundamental rights and freedoms in Hong Kong has now deteriorated.
And there is not only Zen: there was above all, last Sunday, the sham election as new governor of the main face of the repression triggered in 2019, the former head of security John Lee Ka-chiu , who since 2020 is in the US black list and, therefore, cannot even have a YouTube account .
An election, that of Lee, with which Xi Jinping wanted to inflict yet another slap in the face of the once vibrant former British colony and, at the same time, to that West that in the last three years has watched with horror at the authoritarian drift of that which until recently was a bridgehead of democracy in the territories of the Dragon.
Lee's election
Lee won easy, being the only candidate in the running and having collected even 99% of the votes (only 8 against, according to Reuters ) of the LegCo, the Legislative Assembly of 1,416 members which, according to the rules of the properly reformed electoral system last year with the decisive contribution of Lee himself, who chaired the appropriate commission, they must necessarily be "patriots".
Congratulations from Beijing
The Chinese government immediately congratulated Carrie Lam's successor, who will take office on 1 July, noting that the election was held "in a fair, just and orderly manner in accordance with the laws and regulations".
Congratulations also came on time from the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, the body that deals with managing the complex relations between the island and the motherland, for which "the success of this election" demonstrates the "goodness" of the new electoral system that – he adds with contempt for the danger – appears to be in line with the well-known “one country two systems” principle.
The statements of Nathan Law
The reactions to the alleged exercise of democracy staged in Hong Kong, and to the consequent exultation of the pro-Beijing front, were not long in coming.
“This is by no means a democratic (process) at all,” commented former LegCo member and protagonist of the 2016 umbrella revolt, exiled Nathan Law today. "It is only an appointment, we cannot really speak of an election".
The press releases of the G7 and the EU
The dry declarations of the foreign ministers of the G7 and the High Representative of EU foreign policy, Josep Borrell , came with a beating drum.
For the heads of diplomacy in the US, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Germany, Sunday's election "is an integral part of a continuous assault on political pluralism and fundamental freedoms".
"The current selection process and the resulting nomination", continues the statement of the big seven, "mark a clear departure from the goal of universal suffrage … as established by the Basic Law … and further erode the possibility for citizens to Hong Kong to be legitimately represented ".
Of the same tenor are the words of High Representative Borrell, for whom the electoral reform adopted in Hong Kong "weakens the already limited democratic elements of the island's government system" and "goes against the commitment to greater representativeness included in the Basic Law ".
For the EU, therefore, Sunday's vote is to be considered as "yet another step towards the dismantling of the principle" one country two systems ".
But who is Lee?
The tones of a clash of civilizations show how tense the relationship between the West and China is now, which finds one of the hottest knots in the Hong Kong question.
The fact is that Beijing succeeds in its attempt to place a very loyal loyalist at the head of the rebel island with a security know-how that can only be pleasing to the motherland, determined to crush the democratic yearning of the Hong Kongers by any means.
Joined the police at 19 in 1977 as a simple recruit, Lee quickly climbed the ranks becoming Chief Superintendent in 1997 and Deputy Commissioner in 2010. Two years after his jump to the Security Bureau as Undersecretary and the concomitant and symbolic renunciation of British citizenship .
With the arrival of Carrie Lam at the helm of the island, her position is further consolidated with her appointment first as Secretary of Security and then, last year, as Chief Secretary of the Hong Kong Administration, i.e. in second place of power after Lam itself.
A climb in which Beijing's gratitude for the hard punch with which Lee manages the sensational protests of 2016 before and above all of 2019, when the agents under his command made extensive use of rubber bullets and tear gas.
Strength or Achilles' heel?
But the strength of the new governor also corresponds to his Achilles heel. As CNBC notes, "John Lee has focused his entire career on safety and is largely untested in other areas."
If in a system like that of Hong Kong, where just over a thousand rigorously selected big voters designate the leader, popularity is not a decisive factor (and Lee, incidentally, enjoys just 34% of the vote. of Hong Kong citizens), the same cannot be said for the managerial skills required to manage a complex megacity and global financial hub.
But in Beijing all this, at the present moment, seems to be of little interest. The priority is to continue the tightening that began when the Security Bureau headed by Lee passed the infamous National Security Law which introduced on the island what a recent report by the Georgetown Center for Asian Law called a "climate of fear" and of which the latest Cardinal Zen does the shopping.
Hong Kong to the abyss?
In the global tug-of-war with the US and in the great global challenge between autocracies and democracies, Beijing does not want and cannot afford any setbacks.
To pay the price are the citizens of Hong Kong themselves, who by the tens of thousands each month take the path of exile (180,000 between February and March, CNN recalls) together with those professionals and managers who had contributed so much to the wealth of island.
Meanwhile, in the latest ranking on freedom of the press by Reporters Without Borders Hong Kong plummeted 68 positions and ended up in 148th place, just above Afghanistan.
How this can be combined with Lee's campaign slogan, which has promised to make Hong Kong "a place of hope" , remains to be seen.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/hong-kong-john-lee/ on Thu, 12 May 2022 09:48:40 +0000.