Brutal crackdown on Hong Kong

Harsh prison sentences imposed by Hong Kong’s High Court on 45 pro-democracy demonstrators, including Australian citizen Gordon Ng, makes the “charm offensive” of Xi Jinping and top communist Chinese officials in meetings with world leaders at the APEC and G20 summits look hollow. The sentences handed down to the 45 (from an original 47) are, as opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said, “appalling and unacceptable”. Foreign Minister Penny has rightly voiced Australia’s “strong objections to the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities”.

The sentences are a grim reminder of the ruthless oppression Mr Xi is imposing on Hong Kong, as his regime seeks to destroy what remains of the democratic lifeblood of the once-vibrant, prosperous territory.

The fate of the 45, which includes sentences of up to 10 years in Chinese prisons for demonstrating in favour of the democratic rights and freedoms that Hong Kong was promised at the time of the British handover in 1997, is an ominous curtain-raiser to the resumption of the trial of newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai. As with the trial of the 45 democracy advocates, the protracted legal process launched by the CCP against the deeply religious, globally admired 76-year-old Mr Lai on charges of subversion under Beijing’s oppressive National Security Law are designed to snuff out what remains of freedom and democracy in Hong Kong.

Those close to Mr Lai believe the aim is to keep him in prison for the rest of his life, such is the CCP’s fear of him. His persecution reflects what Beijing’s dictatorial rule is doing to Hong Kong, and why world leaders, including Anthony Albanese, should not fall for Mr Xi’s bogus blandishments.

As Amnesty International noted, “the incarceration of a 76-year-old man simply because his newspaper dared to criticise the government and report public discussions lays bare the disintegration of respect for human rights in Hong Kong’’.

The communist regime has sought to portray the erudite Mr Lai as the equivalent of Osama bin Laden, The Wall Street Journal reports. Nothing could be further removed from reality. Mr Lai has been arraigned on puerile, unjust charges over alleged “collusion with foreign countries or external elements”. That relates to no more than his normal working contacts with foreign politicians, media and NGOs supportive of democracy in Hong Kong.

In an unusual, welcome demonstration of cross-party solidarity in Canberra, Labor, Coalition and Greens senators took a principled stand, joining forces to condemn Beijing for its persecution of Mr Lai. They also called for his “immediate and unconditional” release.

Mr Lai’s plight, and that of pro-democracy activists sentenced on Tuesday, is symptomatic of Beijing’s oppressive rule in the former British colony. No world leader targeted by the CCP’s charm offensive in Peru and Brazil should be under any illusions about the fact China has ignored almost every commitment it signed up to in 1997. The silence of the Vatican over the fate of Mr Lai, a strong and generous Catholic convert in Hong Kong, and his associates is extraordinary, just a month after the church renewed its secretive pact with the CCP. It sparked outrage by doing so on October 22, the special memorial day for Saint John Paul II, a staunch defender of freedom against totalitarian regimes.

Donald Trump’s nominee to become US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, encouragingly has been an outspoken critic of Beijing’s “comprehensive assault on Hong Kong’s autonomy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms”. Other leaders should be no less forceful, including those currently attending a Global Financial Leaders Summit in Hong Kong. Mr Trump, asked during the campaign about getting Mr Lai out of prison, said: “I’ll get him out. He’ll be easy to get out.” Mr Rubio must not allow Mr Trump to forget that pledge. Gaining freedom for Mr Lai is unlikely, however, unless the US is willing to lead in bringing international pressure on Mr Xi that will make him wonder whether his persecution of Mr Lai and other Hong Kong democrats is worth the cost to his regime’s standing.