One country, two systems: That was the promise the Chinese leadership made to Hong Kong citizens 25 years ago. The city’s far-reaching autonomy and freedom rights were to remain in place for half a century. Beijing has never kept this promise. Like frogs in water that are being boiled hotter and hotter, the regime has destroyed people’s freedom bit by bit. For years it threatened and lied. Then it switched to the press and had civil rights activists and MPs arrested. The 2020 security law was ultimately just the death knell for the once-free city.
In this respect, it is almost unbearable mockery when Xi Jinping says that the Hong Kongers have only become the masters of their own homeland since the return. The truth is, they never were. British rule created the freedom with which Hong Kongers created such a remarkable structure of political and economic freedom. But the British never thought of granting democracy to Hong Kong’s citizens either. Under Beijing, the city is now entirely without rights.
50 years have not even become 25 years, two systems have become one. The anniversary should have been a confirmation for the party leader. Before the eyes of the world, China broke the international legal agreement with Great Britain – there were never any consequences. For years, the West only warned politicians to send statements of solidarity when it suited their own election campaign. Hong Kong, as the 25th anniversary shows more clearly than ever, has become a triumph of oppression.