China Continues to Encroach on Hong Kong with its “Patriot Only” Elections
Hong Kong is widely known as the free market alcove of an otherwise heavily state-influenced economy in southern China. While other cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen are prime examples of the high power economic engines the country wants to replicate, Hong Kong is a “Special Administrative Region.” An agreement made in 1997 as the occupying British left the island ensured that the city government had extensive political and economic autonomy. This allowed it to become a thriving metropolis without much of the strict state capitalist overreach of the Chinese government.
The terms of the agreement granted it validity until 2047 – 50 years after the transfer of power from the British to the Chinese was complete. Unfortunately for residents of Hong Kong who continue to enjoy expanded civil and financial liberties, China’s ruling party has other plans.
Hong Kong never quite became democratic due to its governmental structure barring universal suffrage, instead choosing to enfranchise only a small group of elites called the election committee. Under this system, it still allowed residents to express some level of dissent to the Communist Party. However, after Beijing imposed its “patriots only” rule, elections in the city now face restrictions that allow only the political elite to choose the election committee, with 233,000 Hong Kong residents voting in 2016, as opposed to 4,800 individuals eligible now, which comprises .06% of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million population. As stated in The Guardian, candidates also must not pose a “national security threat,” in a clear rebuke to pro-democracy lawmakers looking to reform the system.
The elections, and soon any notion of action untethered by the Communist Party, have become blatant political theater. According to The New York Times, there are a few markings of a free and fairly-conducted vote, such as posters reminding people of registration deadlines and politicians “[handing] out leaflets in the tropical heat.” Regardless, the outcome of a pro-Beijing election committee was inevitable, and any protests to the contrary would be suppressed under strict new legislation. It perfectly sets up for China’s hasty takeover of Hong Kong.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, is a strong proponent of large scale authoritarian control, and began to encroach on Hong Kong’s free market system during his presidency. It began with a security law passed in Beijing that took the city’s judicial system under mainland control, giving them free reign to prosecute journalists and pro-democracy politicians, and strangle the market.
It came in the wake of massive pro-democracy protests in the city last year, involving over three million people and a multifaceted rebellion against China’s growing lust for power. Protestors smashed government buildings, blocked airports from operating, and endured tear gas fired on a sea of umbrellas. The protests continued for months on end until Beijing began to crack down, installing loyalist leaders in key places to re-establish order in the city. The COVID-19 pandemic has also played a significant role as authorities have used it to justify and enforce new lockdowns.
It is the newest development in China’s encroachment of Hong Kong, and it is merely a small step toward what seems to be a new form of technologically-enhanced authoritarianism. China wants Hong Kong to become another megacity that acts as a massive economic powerhouse where they retain full control of the levers of economy. The Communist Party intends to force society to prosper, as long as it’s in their benefit and complies with its narrow vision of a flowering China.
One mark of the Communist Party’s path toward total control comes in the form of its horrifically dystopian social credit system, which it will likely impose on Hong Kong residents as soon as it becomes possible to do so. The system gives each citizen a score based on various factors, from bill payments to academic honesty, and even includes shopping habits. One’s score can change in real time: if a parent walks into a store, the purchase of diapers will benefit one’s score more than buying alcohol. A higher score can result in benefits such as better job eligibility, access to public transportation and insurance premiums. A lower score can inhibit one’s ability to live in society, including barring financial transactions and termination from jobs. It identifies people using vast networks of cameras equipped with facial recognition, and algorithms supported by artificial intelligence that organize and utilize the mountains of data it collects on China’s 1.4 billion citizens.
Through initiatives such as the social credit system, the Chinese government is constructing an intricate web of social control that could lead to a totalitarian state supported by a foundation of technological networks. Its goal is a vast surveillance system that allows the government and its ruling party to have a heavy hand in every aspect of its people’s lives, and concepts like civil liberties are mere barriers to this end. This system may help lead to China’s long-term goal of rapid economic development, but it comes at the cost of its citizens’ rights and welfare.
Beijing’s early invasion of Hong Kong is not the first step in China’s relentless sprint toward a more tightly-controlled future, and it is far from the last. It needs the city to tow the line by complying with its restrictive vision just as the Chinese people are forced to in order to thrive in society. However, it does stand as a testament to the ruling party’s totalitarian ambition and its reluctance to make any exceptions. It also serves as a warning to the rest of the world that China will stop at nothing to make it to the top, even if it involves constructing an inescapable rat maze for its citizens.