Janice R. Andrews
The United States announced steps to impose new visa restrictions on mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for enforcing the broad legislation on Friday, expressing deep concerns about the convictions of 14 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong under a national security law imposed by Beijing.
According to AP reports, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller demanded the release of the imprisoned campaigners one day after the UK made a comparable appeal in the wake of Thursday’s historic judgments. “The defendants were subjected to a politically motivated prosecution and jailed simply for peacefully participating in political activities protected under the Basic Law of Hong Kong,” Miller said. The city’s version of a constitution is found in the Basic Law.
The activists were tasked with setting up unofficial primaries in order to increase the number of lawmakers who supported democracy and exert pressure on the administration by vetoing budgets. In the largest national security case the city has ever seen, these 14 activists are among 47 charged. The 14 who were found guilty and the 31 who had previously entered guilty pleas will be sentenced at a later time. Authorities want to challenge the acquittals of the two activists. Since their arrests, the majority of defendants have spent more than three years in custody.
The leaders of a congressional panel on China, Rep. Chris Smith and Sen. Jeff Merkley, attacked the Hong Kong administration for “bulldozing” the freedoms and the rule of law that had made the city so important. “Let us be clear: The Hong Kong 47 verdicts violate international law and treaty obligations,” they said.
Massive anti-government rallies in 2019 were a result of the city’s pro-democracy movement, which has suffered greatly from the mass prosecution of the 47 activists. “These rulings essentially eliminate the entire political opposition in Hong Kong,” said Sunny Cheung, a candidate who took part in the July 2020 primary and then fled to the United States.
According to James Griffiths of the Globe and Mail, the movement that the 47 stood for in favor of democracy “no longer exists.” With their leaders either in prison or exile, the majority of opposition groups have either dissolved or ceased to exist. Beijing’s new regulations limit voting to “patriots,” who have been pre-screened by a commission chosen by the government.
Griffiths also emphasizes how regulations prohibiting remembrance of the Tiananmen Square tragedy are just one example of the legislation that the government continues to enact despite the impossibility of large-scale protests. “The loss of political life has had an indelible effect on Hong Kong’s character,” he says. The city has changed from being an upbeat, forward-thinking place to be. A lot of people are planning their departure and talking pessimistically about the future.”
