Wall Street Journal: A Knock on the Door in Hong Kong

May 16, 2002

Major Business News

A policeman' knock on the door in the early hours is an action usually associated with harsh and dictatorial regimes. Hong Kong is still a long way from falling into that category. As its authorities are invariably quick to point out, more than 10,000 public meetings and processions have been held in the territory since its return to Chinese rule five years ago.

On Monday, hundreds of followers of Falun Gong, the spiritual group that is banned elsewhere in China, marched through the streets of Hong Kong to celebrate the movement' 10th anniversary. Those restrictions that do exist on protests, including a requirement to seek permission from police seven days in advance, are arguably less severe than in many other Asian countries.

But a series of recent events suggests that Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa -- perhaps under pressure from Beijing -- is starting to take a tougher line toward street protests in the run-up to his inauguration for a second term in July. Chief among these was the early morning arrest of two protesters at their homes last week. A third surrendered to police shortly afterwards.

[..] the arrests, for failing to seek the required permission for a rally three months earlier, have caused widespread concern in Hong Kong.

The seven days notice requirement, officially known as seeking a "letter of no objection" from the territory' police, is a controversial measure introduced under pressure from Beijing in 1997, as part of a package of changes to the Public Order Ordinance designed to make it harder to hold street protests. Since then it has been defied on more than 1,600 occasions, none of which had previously led to anyone being charged.

That has prompted fears that the trio has been picked as easy targets, because of their eccentric political views, as the first step in a more general crackdown on anti-Beijing demonstrations. No sooner had they been arrested than police announced a ban on protests outside the main entrance to the Hong Kong Government' headquarters, preventing a planned demonstration in memory of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Local press reports said Mr. Tung is also determined to prevent politically embarrassing protests when Chinese leaders visit the territory for his inauguration on July 1.

Hong Kong officials vigorously deny this, insisting the ban is only a temporary measure. Police also deny that political considerations played any part in their decision to arrest the three activists. But the record of the past few months suggests otherwise. Last month police broke up a demonstration by China-born children of the territory' citizens, who are fighting for the right to stay in Hong Kong with their parents. Legal scholars say the police may have broken the law in doing this. But the police remain unrepentant, insisting their actions were lawful, including the handcuffing of two journalists whom they accused of being "emotionally unstable."

Notwithstanding Monday' protest, life has also become more difficult for the territory' Falun Gong followers. In March, 16 were charged with obstruction after protesting outside Beijing' liaison office. Since then authorities have resorted to more inventive tactics, recently walling off the activists' protest site, using the excuse that it was needed for flowerbeds.

This tougher line against protesters has not gone unnoticed in the territory' highly competitive Chinese language media, with numerous newspapers denouncing last week' arrests. However the English language South China Morning Post, which was recently accused of self-censorship by its former Beijing bureau chief, has remained conspicuously silent on the issue in its editorial columns.

Hong Kong' first five years under Chinese rule have already seen numerous attempts to curtail politically embarrassing demonstrations. Protesters have been hemmed in with restrictions, pushed back out of sight of visiting leaders from Beijing and, in some cases, prevented from entering the territory at all. But since most protests were allowed to go ahead, and authorities didn' invoke the draconian powers available under the Public Order Ordinance, Mr. Tung was still able to claim a degree of credit internationally, for continuing to tolerate freedom of assembly -- albeit in a more limited manner than before.

But if, as recent events suggest, his second term is to be marked by a much harsher attitude that displays little concern about international respectability, then he should not expect any country that values fundamental freedoms to continue to accord him such respect.