It comes as no surprise that John Lee (李家超) is destined to be elected Hong Kong’s new chief executive today.
Proclaiming to safeguard national security and political stability above everything else, Lee is confronted with a world where US-China disputes over Taiwan and COVID-19 loom over Hong Kong’s fragile economy. His new administration would be vulnerable to three structural obstacles that are beyond his capability to resolve.
First is legitimacy, which the incumbent chief executive lacks due to the rapid disappearance of viable systems and norms that hold the postcolonial government accountable.
Pledging allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party is now a precondition
Five-year Prison Terms for Hong Kong Students Deepen Fears of Retroactive Use of National Security Law
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Hong Kong s Democratic Turncoats - The Atlantic
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The Rollback of Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong
Publication: China Brief Volume: 21 Issue: 2
February 4, 2021 11:16 AM
Age: 2 months
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, presides over its 20th session in Beijing on June 30, when the Hong Kong National Security Law was unanimously passed and immediately implemented (Image source: Xinhua)
Introduction
After the Hong Kong protest movement exploded in 2019, the world looked on with both hope and trepidation. Protestors made five demands: that a proposed extradition law be withdrawn; that there be an independent investigation of police behavior; that the protests stop being characterized as riots; that any charges against arrested protesters be dropped and that promised universal suffrage be implemented (HKPF, December 25, 2019).