With a Distracted U.S., Hong Kong Intensifies Its Democratic Crackdown
There's so much going on in the world—a new war between Israel and Iran, ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, tariffs upending the global economy, riots in Los Angeles, planes falling out of the sky, political violence and terrorist attacks —it can be hard to know where to look.
Experts say that's what authorities in Hong Kong may be counting on, as they intensify a democratic crackdown in the semi-autonomous Chinese region, quietly building off of moves that began years ago to align the once-democratic stronghold with the more authoritarian government of Beijing.
On June 12, Hong Kong authorities conducted a joint operation with China's national security officials in the city, raiding the homes of six people and the office of an organization suspected of 'collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security.' Just days before, Hong Kong police warned against downloading a 'seditious' mobile video game deemed to be 'endangering national security.' And on June 10, the city's leader, John Lee, said Hong Kong will ramp up 'national security' screenings of food and entertainment establishments.
Since the Chinese Central Government passed a controversial law in 2020 in response to widespread anti-establishment protests the year before, Hong Kong has steadily transformed from a place known for freer expression to one that Benedict Rogers, a British human rights activist focused on Asia, described last month as a ' police state.'
When the law, which penalizes a swathe of actions deemed critical of Hong Kong and China, was passed, officials from both parties in the U.S. at the time saw it as an infringement on democratic rights, and the U.S. imposed sanctions to try to mitigate the effects.
Trump's second-term Administration, however, has said little about what's unfolding in Hong Kong. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in March that 'Beijing has broken its promises to the people of Hong Kong' amid the crackdowns, and on March 31, the State Department sanctioned six individuals related to the erosion of freedom in Hong Kong, including national security officials and the city's former police commissioner.
But critics say the U.S. response seems to end there, and the latest wave of actions in June have not been addressed.
The turmoil around the globe may be proving helpful for Hong Kong to fasttrack its crackdown. Eric Yan-ho Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, tells TIME that 'the rising geopolitical tensions, particularly between the U.S. and China, has favoured the Hong Kong government to expand national security governance in the city.'
Lai also said the latest developments show that Hong Kong officials have since shifted to 'executive-led' regulatory approaches to quell dissent, rather than arrests en masse.
Under Trump's second-term Administration, U.S. policy has so far focused on China, with Hong Kong often lumped in with the mainland. For example, enhanced scrutiny of Chinese students' visas also covered those from Hong Kong. Hong Kong was also included in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
Experts previously told TIME that Trump's second-term Administration, in hopes of negotiating with China on priorities like trade, may avoid measures aimed at non-economic areas, such as China's domestic democratic and human-rights concerns, that could potentially ruffle Trump's relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Ja Ian Chong, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, tells TIME he thinks members of the Trump Administration like Rubio are 'aware' of what's happening in Hong Kong but that the Administration is 'most focused' at the moment on its own domestic issues.
On that front, Beijing may also benefit, observers have noted in recent days, as increasingly authoritarian-resembling moves by the Trump Administration, including sending troops to quell protests in Los Angeles earlier this month and hosting a military parade over the weekend, cast the U.S. as comparatively hypocritical and weak, according to Chinese media. Said one state-run outlet about Saturday's lackluster parade: 'Democracy is struggling in the mud.'
As Alex Colville and David Bandurski of the China Media Project put it: 'Trump's assault on democratic norms is an unexpected gift for China's leaders, and one that may in the long term prove costlier than any trade war or diplomatic standoff.'
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