Peter Main
On November 19, 45 of the original “Hong Kong 47”, already found guilty of sedition under the National Security Law, at earlier hearings, were sentenced for up to 10 years. Among those sent down were Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a former University of Hong Kong law professor, 10 years, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, leader of the now disbanded Demosisto party, 4 years 8 months, and Leung Kwok-hung, a founder of the League of Social Democrats, 6 years 9 months.
Their “crime” had been to organise an “open primary” election in July 2020, in which over 600,000 took part, to choose a common slate of candidates for an election scheduled for that September. Initially, 55 were arrested and charged with „conspiracy to commit subversion“. Eight were released almost immediately, many of the remaining 47 spent months in jail awaiting trial. The delay clearly intended not only to wear them down but to intimidate others.
The reasoning by which holding a primary election is interpreted as “subversion”, that is, an attempt to overthrow the government, says everything necessary to understand legal principles in the People’s Republic of China. It is argued that their clear intention was to maximise their representation in the Legislative Council, if successful, this would have enabled them to block proposed governmental legislation or even the budget. Were that to happen, government would be paralysed, therefore, they were guilty of attempting to bring down the government.
In today’s China, it seems, the purpose of an election is to legitimise whatever the government decides. As if to underline this, the election was actually held in December 2021, after the electoral system had been changed to only allow candidates vetted by the government.
Harsh as the sentences were, the Security Secretary, Chris Tang Ping-keung, has decided to examine each individual case to determine whether a review is warranted because of excessive leniency.
The case of the HK47, is not an isolated example of government repression of democratic rights. On September 26, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, the former editors of Stand News, a “pro-democracy” publication, were sentenced to 21 months and 11 months, respectively, after they were convicted of conspiring to publish seditious publications. The only difference there was that the charge was brought under laws introduced by the British.
Another case gaining publicity is that of Jimmy Lai, a British citizen, the publisher of Apple Daily, a newspaper that was openly critical of both the Hong Kong and Beijing governments. He faces multiple counts under the same National Security Law, of colluding with foreign forces and conspiring to publish seditious materials. As is now normal, he will not be tried by a jury but by hand-picked judges.
What all these trials, and there are other defendants in prison awaiting further trials, show, is that a one-party dictatorship, like that of the Chinese Communist Party, cannot be defeated within the constitutional law that it itself writes. In such conditions, the “rule of law”, often referred to by apologists of the CCP, simply means obeying the party, which is constitutionally defined as the leader of the nation.
Heroic as many of the regime’s victims may be, their political strategies were never going to be successful and the most determined opponents of the CCP must turn towards developing the political foundations of a working class revolutionary party organising not only in Hong Kong but throughout mainland China.