Beijing’s Hammers
Master of Puppets: Lam sits center, but Luo, on her right, runs the show
China has appointed, depending on your view, two of its toughest hardliners — or thugs — to administer its draconian new national security law in Hong Kong.
The law, which has essentially ends political freedom of speech and assembly in the city, will be administered by a new security agency, and the Committee for Safeguarding National Security.
Zheng: Crackdown Cadre
Zheng Yanxiong will run the security agency, which will apparently operate with few legal restraints. Under the guise of national security, authorities can wire-tap and raid premises without a court warrant, and order internet firms to remove content or seize equipment.
Zheng’s best known for his role crushing a protest by villagers in Wukan seeking compensation for land requisitioned by the government.
In 2011, disaffected locals forcibly expelled government officials from the area, accusing the officials of grabbing their land in a series of corrupt deals with developers.
A blockade ensued and, as part of a negotiated settlement to defuse tensions, the locals were given the right to elect their own council. It became a grass roots democratic exemption in China.
Five years later, the residents — angry that no money had been paid for the taken land — started marching in the streets again. The situation escalated after their elected leader was taken away by the authorities on what are thought to have been trumped up charges.
Zheng was brought in by Beijing. He used hundreds of riot police to seize control, made mass arrests, and ended the "Wukan experiment".
He blamed foreign media for creating the situation, "These media organizations will only be happy when our socialist county falls apart.” So, he’s also well versed in the propaganda lines Beijing favors.
Luo Huining, who heads Beijing's Central Liaison Office in Hong Kong, was made National Security Adviser to the Committee for Safeguarding National Security, which was set up to oversee the implementation of the law.
That vastly understates his role. Luo is basically the man running Hong Kong right now. As we said, in January Beijing brought him in to pull the puppet strings of failed Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Luo had no experience in Hong Kong. But, he is a Xi Jingping loyalist, and known for “enforcing Communist Party discipline.”
He was the top party official in the northern province of Shanxi, where he was tasked with cleaning up corruption. Note that Xi’s favorite tactic to remove rivals is to charge them with corruption. In a piece Luo wrote for the official People’s Daily in 2017, he said the people of Shanxi felt his disciplinary efforts were, “like spring rain washing away the smog.”
Information relating to the work of the national security committee will not be disclosed, and decisions made by the committee are not subject to judicial review.
The law, which supposedly stipulates "secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces,” is deliberately vague to allow the committee to call almost anything a crime under it. While the statute is ill-defined the penalties are not: suspects could be extradited to face trial in a Mainland Chinese court and face life in prison.
The appointment of two hard men like Zheng and Luo make it very clear Beijing will launch a full crackdown on the pro-Democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Its key political leaders will be encouraged to emigrate — or eventually be arrested and imprisoned under the law.
Recall 15 high-profile pro-democracy figures were arrested before the new law took effect in April for “organizing and participating in unlawful assemblies.” That was a warning about what comes now.
Like all Hong Kongers, they face a rather stark choice, since Beijing has made clear the days of voicing freedom are over.