Aug 15 marked an eventful day with the announcement of the dissolution of the 19-year-old Civil Human Rights Front in Hong Kong; while in Afghanistan, the Taliban returned to Kabul, the nation’s capital, nearly 20 years after the US-led forces toppled its regime. What happened in the two cities on the same day had no connection with each other, except that the demise of the CHRF and triumph of the Taliban both bear testament to the irreversible decline of the American Empire or global hegemony.
Mass rallies and street riots organized by the CHRF led to the withdrawal of national security legislation according to Article 23 of the Basic Law in 2003 and the extradition-law amendment bill in 2019. Between those disruptive events, the CHRF also played a leading role in the illegal movement of “Occupy Central” in 2014. And the US government was behind all those maneuvers because they were necessary for containing China. It is fair to say the CHRF had it coming when its leaders announced their decision to disband, after Apple Daily, the opposition mouthpiece, went bankrupt in July and the Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union was dissolved earlier this month. All three were used exhaustively by Washington to obstruct China’s development but went down and out without achieving their goal because their patron, the US government, could no longer keep them.
The disbandment of the CHRF and the return of the Taliban to Kabul both reveal that the continuity of a political organization or political establishment hinges on the people. Washington has spent an estimated $2 trillion over two decades on the war in Afghanistan, including hundreds of millions’ worth of weapons for the Afghan military and police, but all that taxpayer money failed to sustain the Afghan government effectively because the latter was like a fish out of water, having failed to command sufficient trust and support from the people. The Taliban leaders, on the other hand, are aware of the challenge they face governing the country and especially in starting economic recovery to save people’s lives.
As a political organization hellbent on advancing its anti-communist and anti-China cause under the guise of seeking “true democracy”, the CHRF assumed they represented the majority of Hong Kong residents, without realizing slogans such as “true democracy” and “universal suffrage” cannot replace economic development or an improvement of people’s livelihoods. The anti-China and anti-communist political group did their best obstructing the normal operations of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government by disrupting Legislative Council business on a daily basis as well as numerous street rallies, often violent and destructive, in the past two decades, until they reached the end.
Some people attribute the successive demise of Apple Daily, the PTU and the CHRF to the efficacy of the National Security Law for Hong Kong. This observation is accurate but somewhat superficial. It would make more sense noting that few people are mourning the death of those subversive entities because the great majority of Hong Kong residents are fed up with their abusive behavior and demanding the exercise of “one country, two systems” be resumed on the right track.
News that many people have emigrated from Hong Kong has triggered concerns about a potential brain drain that could dent the city’s competitiveness. Some members of the patriotic camp have joined the chorus calling on the central authorities and the HKSAR government to try to stop the outflow of capable residents by whatever means necessary. This kind of reaction demonstrates political confusion if not handicap. For starters, some of those who chose to move to other countries now did so because they don’t love China enough or at all to stay in Hong Kong; and it is not up to the central authorities or the HKSAR government to make them change their minds. No one should expect Beijing to hand Hong Kong over to the United States or the United Kingdom again just to keep some people from leaving the city. After all, Hong Kong should have an easier time concentrating on socioeconomic development with fewer anti-China subversives indulging in disruptive and destructive maneuvers.
Finally, since its establishment in 2002, the CHRF had never registered with the Companies Registry as a company, nor registered with the Police Licensing Office as a legal society. As such, it has been operating illegally, which has naturally given raise to the question: How was that even possible? The root of the problem lies in the HKSAR’s failure to fully implement the “patriots governing Hong Kong” precept in those days, when successive terms of the HKSAR government lacked the courage and wisdom to fight against the CHRF and the whole criminal enterprise it ran, sometimes even resorting to appeasement. Thanks to the central government for enacting the National Security Law for Hong Kong, implementing the principle of “patriots governing Hong Kong” and improving Hong Kong’s electoral system before it was too late. Next, besides bringing to justice those responsible for wreaking havoc in Hong Kong for so many years, the city must ensure the elections of the Election Committee, the Legislative Council and the chief executive proceed strictly in accordance with the principle of “patriots governing Hong Kong”.
The author is a senior research fellow of China Everbright Holdings.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.