China scores crushing ‘one country, one system’ blow

China’s latest crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong underlines the extent to which Xi Jinping’s communist regime has abandoned any pretence of respect for international law or a rules-based world order. Brute force prevailed as more than 360 demonstrators were arrested from among several thousand who gathered on Tuesday to mark the 23rd anniversary of Britain’s handover of Hong Kong. Under China’s security laws that came into force that day, they face severe punishments including extradition to mainland China for trial by courts controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and life imprisonment in Chinese jails. Their “crime” was demanding basic rights and freedoms, such as continued legal autonomy and freedom of speech and assembly. Hong Kong’s people were led to believe these were enshrined in the “one country, two systems” agreement for 50 years. Beijing accepted serious treaty obligations when it signed up to the 1997 agreement. Its contempt for those commitments is indisputable. Rather than being the end of empire, as some supposed at the time, the handover has turned out to be the start of a more pernicious imperialism. The outcome has parallels with the Anschluss in March 1938, when Nazi Germany absorbed Austria, as Paul Monk wrote on Thursday.

Australia is right to consider giving safe haven to Hong Kong citizens. Scott Morrison is considering offering “similar opportunities” to those being provided by Boris Johnson, who has moved to offer pathways for up to three million Hong Kong British nationals to live and work in Britain if they want to flee the new laws outlawing criticism of China. As the leader of the former colonial power with a residual responsibility for Hong Kong’s fate, Mr Johnson has set an example to other Western democracies. Countries such as Australia stand to benefit from the education, skills, work ethic and support for the values of liberal democracy of Hong Kong people escaping the Chinese jackboot.

The ruthless oppression unleashed on Hong Kong is a test for nations and multilateral bodies. In Geneva on Tuesday, the misnamed UN Human Rights Council regrettably voted 53-27 to support China’s crackdown. The motion proposed by Cuba was backed by well-known defenders of human rights and freedom such as North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe. From a regional perspective it is disturbing that Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka also voted in favour of it. Their craven support for China’s repression doubtless reflects their gratitude for so-called aid they have received from Beijing’s Belt and Road funding initiative. The attitudes of PNG and Sri Lanka, despite their democratic heritages, demonstrate the effectiveness of “soft power” diplomacy and why it must be countered among regional developing nations.

China’s swift move against Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrators coincides with revelations of its use of forced abortions and forced sterilisations among its Muslim minority, including Uighurs detained in the far west region of Xinjiang. Birthrates have plummeted as a result of a campaign US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has labelled “shocking” and “disturbing”.

The new laws for Hong Kong have increased tensions between CCP supporters in Australia and pro-democracy backers. In Brisbane on Wednesday a man who asked anti-Beijing protesters to identify themselves at a rally was arrested after he hijacked the microphone and scuffled with police. Brisbane resident Huang Wang, 26, was charged with public nuisance and obstructing police. Protest organisers claimed Mr Wang had been moving around the crowd asking people of Chinese appearance to remove their face masks while he tried to film them, as Michael McKenna and Charlie Peel report. The protesters were frightened, understandably, about being identified under what has become a tyrannical system.

Under the new laws, Chinese-Australians accused of subversion or secession activities in Australia, such as pro-democracy rallies, are likely to come under the microscope of authorities if they return to Hong Kong. The law applies to offences “committed against the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from outside the region by a person who is not a permanent resident of the region”. Bing Ling, a professor of Chinese law at the University of Sydney, has warned Australians peacefully talking about Hong Kong independence or proposing sanctions on Hong Kong “would be considered criminal and people can be arrested if they enter Hong Kong”.

The new laws can only add to regional tensions that have been building in recent years with the militarisation of the South China Sea. More recently, cyber attacks on government and business in Australia and China’s economic retaliation for Australia calling for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19 have seen the bilateral relationship deteriorate further. Last year, China cited Hong Kong as a model for the future of Taiwan. Last month, Chinese aircraft ventured briefly into Taiwanese airspace at least eight times. Pro-independence Taiwanese politician Chen Po-wei notes that as “Hong Kong has become less free, so our sense of fear has increased. Because of China’s nature, there is a high possibility of conflict”. The Prime Minister is right: “There’s much more tension in the cord these days.” The largely benign security environment that Australia enjoyed from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the global financial crisis has gone. Australia’s defence objectives must accord with the strategic environment we face.