Hong Kong diktat a mark of China’s wilful outlook

The “deep concern” about China’s assault on Hong Kong’s democratic freedoms expressed by Foreign Minister Marise Payne and her UK and Canadian counterparts is important. As the ministers said, making such a law on Hong Kong’s behalf without the direct participation of its people, legislature or judiciary undermines the principle of “one country, two systems’’, under which Hong Kong is guaranteed a high degree of autonomy. Donald Trump and the European Union also criticised China’s move. The comments from Western leaders drew an angry response from China, accusing its critics of “bandit logic’’.

In an exclusive interview with foreign editor Greg Sheridan on Monday, one of the most influential figures in American foreign policy, US senator Marco Rubio, says the Chinese Communist Party is using its current dispute with Australia to intimidate other nations and stop them from criticising Beijing over its handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Senator Rubio, who is acting chairman of the powerful Senate intelligence committee, is undoubtedly correct. And a united front between Australia, Britain, Canada and other democracies over China’s intolerable violation of the “one country, two systems” principle will send a stronger message than a single country speaking out.

Draconian new security laws to be imposed on Hong Kong after rubberstamping by President Xi Jinping’s National People’s Congress undermine the Chinese Communist Party’s pledge to maintain “one country, two systems’’ for 50 years when it assumed control in 1997.

Twenty-seven years ahead of that schedule — at a time when the world is preoccupied with fighting COVID-19, which originated in Wuhan — Mr Xi has chosen his moment. After failing for more than a year to snuff out Hong Kong’s democratic movement with tear gas, bullets, mass arrests and prosecutions, Mr Xi has cast aside the deference of his predecessors and shown his disdain for the agreement.

He is imposing a “rule-by-diktat” security law that will allow China’s feared security agencies to take effective control of Hong Kong. They will enforce bans on “secessionist or subversive activity”, the organising of so-called “terrorist acts” and “activities of foreign and external interference”. It may not be quite the full-scale military and administrative takeover of the former colony feared by democrats, but it is not far short of it. It will signal the end of freedom, including press freedom. The fate of leaders such as Hong Kong’s “father of democracy”, internationally respected barrister Martin Lee, 81, arrested in April with 14 other democrats and charged with “sedition, subversion and the theft of state secrets”, looks even grimmer in light of Mr Xi’s takeover. As the colony’s last British governor, Chris Patten, said on Saturday, “we are seeing a new Chinese dictatorship … the Hong Kong people have been betrayed by China’’. China, he said, cheats to twist things in its favour, and those who point it out can expect “wolf warrior’’ diplomats trying to bully them into submission. The trend will make the world less stable, as Mr Patten fears.

Amid concerns China has exploited the economic chaos caused by the coronavirus, Boris Johnson has made the right call to claw back Huawei’s involvement in Britain’s 5G network to zero within three years. The decision is welcome. But Mr Johnson should have responded sooner to the concerns of Australia, the US and other allies in the Five Eyes intelligence arrangement, as well as his own backbench. He has been warned repeatedly about the grave security implications of Huawei’s participation in the network.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and his Treasurer, Tim Pallas, also need to become more prudent. Asked on Sunday whether he agreed with Mr Pallas that some of the federal government’s rhetoric had been seen to vilify China, Mr Andrews said: “Yes. Any other issues?’’ He should have repudiated his Treasurer on the matter. As Scott Morrison says, states should respect the commonwealth’s role in setting foreign relations. Mr Andrews’s foolish embrace of a Belt and Road agreement contradicts national government policy and federal Labor policy, as Sheridan wrote on Saturday. It sets a state against the nation. And any Chinese investment in Victoria will need Foreign Investment Review Board approval, which Mr Andrews cannot guarantee.

Amid the health, economic and strategic repercussions from COVID-19, China is at a critical point in its relationship with the democratic world. Its handling of Hong Kong will be a critical test. Mr Xi would do well to reflect on the words of the senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, Maya Wang, who said on Friday that watching the fate of Hong Kong being decided in Beijing was like watching the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 — “that same feeling of powerlessness, the sadness about the rights of people being trampled upon”.