Hong Kong’s freedom, financial status, and democracy have been eroded since the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) takeover in 1997, as noted by Simon Lee, economics writer and former executive of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily.
“A free society, a robust economy, a civil society, the rule of law, freedom of speech—most people look at them as like separate and independent institutions. But no, all these things tie in together very well in Hong Kong. And they are just one thing but different facades of the same free society that we knew,” Mr. Lee said.
“Don’t have any wishful thinking that China will change for the better unless something fundamentally changes it,” he said.
Freedom Suppressed in Hong Kong
Mr. Lee said that commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre with a candlelight vigil is a “yardstick of freedom in Hong Kong.”The candlelight vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park was a major annual event in the international port city. For over three decades, tens of thousands would come to the park every June 4 to raise a candle in somber commemoration for pro-democracy students and civilians killed by the Chinese military in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
‘Glory to Hong Kong’
“Glory to Hong Kong” is an iconic protest song for Hongkongers who staged large-scale protests in the city throughout 2019, opposing the CCP’s extradition bill. The music expresses their hope for freedom and democracy and is regarded by protesters as the “national anthem of Hong Kong.”
However, in November 2022, the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong issued guidelines requiring athletes to express objection when “Glory to Hong Kong” is played.
The sports organizers did a search on the Internet for the “Hong Kong national anthem,” and the song appeared, Mr. Lee said. Hence, Hong Kong authorities asked Google to ensure the Chinese national anthem would be the top search result for certain keywords.
“Whoever violated the court decision by calling that the Hong Kong national anthem is actually in contempt of the court,” he said in the interview.
“I think that shows something about what will happen in Hong Kong. That is, for people in Hong Kong, the song might not be available from Spotify, from Apple, from Google search. But for the rest of the world, it is still there,” he said.
Budget Deficit Is ‘A Very Dangerous Sign’
As an economics writer, Mr. Lee noted that the Hong Kong government is faced with a budget deficit, which is “definitely not a good thing.”“I think that is a very dangerous sign,” he said.
“Because it means the government is spending other people’s money relentlessly. A government [that] has no restraint on how it operates and spends money is a government that has no restraints in other aspects.”
Hong Kong has a very different institutional arrangement, according to Mr. Lee, because Hong Kong has a rule-based monetary arrangement that is pegged to the U.S. dollar, which has made the city a global financial hub.
“But the issue is that it comes with certain conditions,” he said.
“Condition No. 1: the government has to run a surplus budget, or at least a balanced budget.”
Mr. Lee observed that in Hong Kong’s history since 1842, there were no more than ten years of the government dealing with a budget deficit. But since 2019, the Hong Kong government has been “behaving [more] like a Chinese province or the Chinese central government running on a budget deficit.”
According to the most optimistic prediction by the Hong Kong government, at least until 2028, Hong Kong will still be running on a budget deficit, according to Mr. Lee.
“Unfortunately, the Hong Kong government is a bad example of how a good government that has financial restraint, abides by the rule of law, and respects people’s freedom becomes a government that spends money like [there’s] no tomorrow,” he said.
The CCP ‘Wants to Change the Global Economic Order’
Mr. Lee said that the free world, perhaps even the United States, has an illusion that “we can change China if we provide them with funds and opportunities to develop and access to capital markets, but it seems like it went the other way.”“Instead, we gave China an opportunity to weaponize its economy using its purchasing power as leverage to influence the rest of the world,” he said.
“Look at all these big corporations, changing the rules just to comply with the Chinese government.”
Mr. Lee cited Apple as an example.
“I remember earlier this year, some people in Hong Kong realized that when they tried to access a certain website on the Apple iPhone, it was banned. And later on, they realized that all the traffic was routed to Tencent, which is a Chinese internet service provider’s website, before they were routed to the ultimate destination. So every traffic through [the] iPhone is filtered and censored by this Chinese internet company,” he said.
“And people ask the question, ‘So is Hong Kong still free?’ I will say ‘no.’ Hong Kong is behind this ‘great firewall’ built by China. And Hong Kong is now an integral part of China.”
Mr. Lee warns the international community not to expect communist China to change as it becomes more integrated with the global economy.
“China wants to change the global economic order, not be part of it. It wants to set a rule, although it has no idea what kind of rules that can be. The CCP is not known for being principled in that regard. So, it wants to be the agenda setter. ... It prides itself on being pragmatic, so to speak. But what does it mean? It means they say and do things out of impulse, from time to time; they don’t really have principles at all, except for their own survival,” Mr. Lee said.
