China

The US needs to stand up for Hong Kong to deter China's crackdowns | Michael H Fuch


A

s the United States responds to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) brazen crackdown on Hong Kong, it is hard to imagine a US president with less credibility than Donald Trump – who just this week threatened violence against US citizens protesting police brutality and racism – to respond effectively to the CCP’s dangerous infringement on the rights of the people of Hong Kong.

The rising tensions over Hong Kong are a window into the future of the US-China relationship – the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist party (CCP), the stakes at play, and how dangerous it is when the United States lacks an effective approach. 

After the “handover” in 1997, the people of Hong Kong were promised at least 50 years of self-rule and a democratic system of government; the CCP has encroached on Hong Kong’s autonomy ever since. Major protests – including in 2014 and last year – have been sparked not only by acts of repression by the CCP, but also more recently by the fear that time is running out for Hong Kong. 

A new law approved by the Chinese mainland’s national people’s congress makes those fears more real than ever. The CCP argues that the inability of the Hong Kong government to deal with protests means that Beijing must step in, a move that violates the promise of separate political systems. The new law authorizes arrests for vague transgressions such as “treason”, “sedition” and “subversion”, raising fears that anyone deemed an opponent of the CCP could be arrested. The law also authorizes the CCP’s security services to operate openly in Hong Kong, formally extending the power of the Chinese security state to Hong Kong. 

The CCP views the protests in Hong Kong as a direct threat to the CCP’s autocratic system, and influencing the CCP on this is difficult. But the CCP watches closely for the reactions of the rest of the world, in particular the US. Trump has generally made it clear that he couldn’t care less what happens in Hong Kong. At the height of the protests last year, Trump reportedly told the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, that he would stay quiet about Hong Kong in order to facilitate a trade deal. In public remarks Trump has called the protests “riots” and said they are China’s business to handle. 

The US Congress, however, responded to last year’s events by passing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which Trump was forced to sign. That law requires the US secretary of state to certify every year that Hong Kong remains autonomous, which is a precondition for the US to continue its preferential economic relationship with Hong Kong. On Wednesday, in response to the CCP’s latest move, the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, notified Congress that Hong Kong was not autonomous from the mainland. 

Pompeo’s certification gives the president and secretary of state the ability to impose consequences ranging from sanctions to a complete change in the US-Hong Kong economic relationship. The stakes couldn’t be higher: Hong Kong’s precarious position as a relatively free, democratic society and a global financial hub are dependent on its special treatment by the United States and the international community. If those relationships change, then Hong Kong, US-China relations and the global financial system will change too. 

Threatening to change the US relationship with Hong Kong could, conceivably, deter the CCP from further crackdowns, because the CCP benefits financially from Hong Kong’s unique economic status. But if the US upends Hong Kong’s special status, it could help seal the fate of the people of Hong Kong as just another part of the CCP’s autocratic domain. The US cannot do that. 

The CCP’s actions are not taking place in a vacuum – they are illustrative of the broader challenges the CCP poses to the world, and the dilemmas it presents for the US. As tensions rise, and the CCP uses the cover of the global pandemic to aggressively pursue territorial claims from India to the South China Sea, the range of threats is only growing. 

Trump’s erratic policies have only made matters worse. His trade war hurts the American economy. His lack of interest in human rights has removed potential deterrents against the CCP’s campaign of ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang and repression in Hong Kong. Trump’s undermining of US alliances and withdrawal from leadership in international organizations has ceded the global playing field to China. The list goes on. 

As the US develops strategies to confront the challenges posed by the CCP, we will need to embrace policy approaches that Trump has abandoned. That will mean standing up for values, investing in the American economy, working with allies, and strengthening international institutions. 

When it comes to standing up for Hong Kong today, the US must respond to the passage of the new law with immediate diplomatic pressure. It also needs to send clear public and private signals about the measures that the US will take if Beijing follows through with a crackdown on Hong Kong – including targeted sanctions against the officials, security services and companies involved

To bring international pressure against the CCP, the US must also put Hong Kong’s autonomy on the agenda of international organizations from the United Nations to the G7. 

The US must closely coordinate with its allies, in particular the United Kingdom, which has a special role to play as the signatory to the Sino-British Joint Declaration that outlined the terms of Hong Kong’s handover to China. The US has taken a first step in this direction with a joint US-UK-Canada-Australia statement condemning the CCP’s move. 

The situation also requires consulting with and following the lead of those on the ground in Hong Kong fighting for their rights. The US must ensure that its actions do everything possible to help the people of Hong Kong rather than sacrificing Hong Kong to make a larger point about the CCP. 

Perhaps most importantly, effectively standing up for values abroad requires upholding universal values at home. The Trump administration’s endless assaults on America’s democratic institutions – of which Trump’s threat of violence against Americans is just the most recent shocking illustration – erodes America’s ability to credibly pressure the CCP over its own human rights abuses.

Right now, the people of Hong Kong and the US and people across the world need strong, principled American leadership to deal with the challenges posed by the CCP. Three and a half years of Trump’s counterproductive policies – which the CCP have taken advantage of – have only made that US leadership more necessary than ever.





READ SOURCE

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.