Into this crisis have come the people of Hong Kong. Those of us who have stood resolutely with Hong Kong in their own crisis have found reciprocity in ours. Both of us have been inundated with messages of concern and offers of help. Hong Kongers have sent both of us packages of masks and hand sanitizer, offered to send more, enquired about the needs of our families and of other activists and politicians. These personal gestures and acts of generosity are deeply heartwarming – particularly because one of us spent the first five years of his working life, just after the handover, living in Hong Kong, and one of us is married to a National Health Service（NHS） doctor, so we both know how precious freedom and health are.
But Hong Kong’s solidarity with Britain does not begin and end with those who advocate for Hong Kong’s freedoms. The bond and unity between our peoples is much deeper than that. It has been especially amazing the way Hong Kongers are mobilising to raise funds to send help to Britain’s NHS and charities assisting those who are sick or vulnerable in this emergency – and especially helping to meet the urgent need for Personal Protective Equipment（PPE） for frontline medical staff.
Perhaps people from other countries have been responding to Britain’s needs as well, although with so many countries facing the same challenge it would be understandable if they are focusing on their own emergencies. But Hong Kongers’ response is significant because it illustrates two things.
The first is that Hong Kongers still feel a kinship with the United Kingdom. Even though it is almost 23 years since Hong Kong’s handover to China, the message that is being sent right now from Hong Kongers is that they still regard Britain as their friend. Even though Britain has not done right by them in their own struggles, they still want to do right by us. Even though Britain’s response to the dramatic erosion of the freedoms, basic human rights and autonomy which were promised to Hong Kong and which Britain, under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, has a responsibility to safeguard, has been disappointing, Hong Kongers still want to help us.
The second is that Hong Kongers know the dangers of this virus and the steps needed to protect against it. From their own experience with SARS, they are prepared for this crisis in a way we in Britain are not – because we have never experienced anything like this in generations. And even though they are confronted with a second wave of the virus in Hong Kong right now, they are reaching out to us with extraordinary friendship.
In short, the unity between British people and Hong Kongers is based on both positive and negative factors. We are unified through our historical journey together, and our mutual respect for our very different but complementary cultures. And we are unified by our opposition to tyranny, flowing from our shared values. In essence we are comrades against the inhumane Chinese Communist Party（CCP） – and today we are beginning to see that reflected in 10 Downing Street itself, as the Chinese regime’s lies hit home.
Contrast this with China’s brutal CCP regime, which is primarily responsible for this pandemic and is now mobilizing its Orwellian propaganda machine in the battle for hearts and minds around the world.
The CCP, through its repression of the truth, silencing of whistleblowers, arrest or disappearance of citizen journalists who tried to reveal the facts about coronavirus at the very beginning, and its expulsion of American foreign correspondents from some of the world’s most influential media, as well as its rejection of offers of international help in the early stages of the virus, unleashed this disaster upon the world.
The pressure it put on the World Health Organisation（WHO） not to co-operate with Taiwan in this crisis further proves the CCP’s inhumane and irresponsible nature – while Taiwan has proven, despite a lack of international support, the ability of a responsible democracy to tackle the virus effectively. All in all, one of the lessons from this pandemic is that the CCP is part of the problem, not the solution, and until we in the West fundamentally review and recalibrate the way we engage with the CCP regime, we will continue to face danger.
Once we are through this global crisis, and we will be, we need – as a society in Britain and in our government – to reflect on what the behaviour of Hong Kongers towards us tells us.
It tells us that those who share our values – a desire for freedom, an appreciation of democracy, a respect for human dignity – are our friends. Those who repress freedom, regard democracy as an enemy, trample on human dignity are not. Indeed, they are a threat.
And so we must ask ourselves what can we do to stand with those who have proven to be our friends? What can we do to stand with Hong Kong, just as Hong Kongers right now are standing with us?
Benedict Rogers is co-founder and Chair of Hong Kong Watch, co-founder and Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission and a former parliamentary candidate in the UK. Luke de Pulford is a Fellow of Hong Kong Watch and a member of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission.
