The Telegraph: 'Carrie Lam's legacy: the permanent destruction of Hong Kong's liberties', Benedict Rogers
Britain should take a lead now in imposing targeted sanctions on Ms Lam before she leaves office
Three months after Carrie Lam took office as Hong Kong’s Chief Executive in 2017, she denied me entry to the city that had once been my home. Three months before she leaves office, she has threatened me with jail. That strange symmetry surrounding her tenure symbolizes her appalling legacy as the leader who destroyed Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy.
Ms Lam’s announcement today that she will not seek a second term was a surprise to me, as she has loyally discharged her orders from her masters in Beijing with shocking zeal and diligence. Over the past five years she convincingly transformed herself from capable civil servant to Communist Party apparatchik. Comrade Carrie today is a far cry from the competent official who pledged to unite Hong Kongers and “promote a more democratic society”. Her promise to “reignite hope for our next generation” has gone up in flames as hundreds of thousands of people leave the city. One could conclude only her desire to unite Hong Kongers has been fulfilled, but for the wrong reasons – she united them against her.
Her decision to try to ram through legislation that would have allowed for the extradition of criminal suspects from Hong Kong for trial in mainland China, shattering the firewall that once existed between the two jurisdictions, accelerated the clash between Beijing’s totalitarianism and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. Yet, much of the time, Ms Lam was nothing more than a puppet for Xi Jinping, who had made clear back in 2014 that he had no intention of honouring Beijing’s obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration to protect Hong Kong’s freedoms. She was Beijing’s representative in Hong Kong, rather than – as she should have been – Hong Kong’s voice to Beijing.
The reality now is that whoever replaces her will certainly be no better and could well be even worse. If former policeman and current Chief Secretary John Lee takes over, Hong Kong’s journey from one of Asia’s most open cities into one of the region’s most repressive police states will only intensify. If former CY Leung, the former chief executive, is resurrected, Hong Kong’s nightmare only gets darker. If Financial Secretary Paul Chan is Beijing’s pick, Beijing’s control of the city’s economy will tighten, and Hong Kong’s fraying status as an international financial centre will be further eroded. In a sense, it doesn't really matter. Hong Kong is now directly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, and that looks set to deepen further.
The international community has been quick to condemn the destruction of Hong Kong’s freedoms, but slow to impose any consequences. Apart from the United States, no other country has sanctioned officials in Beijing or Ms Lam and her fellow quislings in Hong Kong. Britain should take a lead now in imposing targeted sanctions on her before she leaves office, and on her likely successors. Failure to do so will only further embolden Beijing to be even more repressive at home and increasingly aggressive abroad. Let there be no farewell gifts for Ms Lam.
This article was published on The Telegraph on 4 April 2022.