Lawrence Ma: Hong Kong protests ‘wake-up call’ for China

In this new episode of #AJOPINION, Hong Kong barrister Lawrence Ma argues that foreign governments have much to gain from the mass protests in Hong Kong, which he says are propelled by Western media’s smearing of Beijing.

“I fear the protesters’ mistrust of the Hong Kong and Beijing governments are blinding them to the foreign interests who benefit from their chaos, anarchy and unrest,” he says in the video.

Anti-government protests gripped Hong Kong for much of 2019. But the tension that triggered the unrest has not gone away despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The mass protests started in June 2019 against plans to allow the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China and saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets. 

Critics feared the proposed bill could undermine judicial independence and endanger dissidents.

Until 1997, Hong Kong was ruled by the United Kingdom as a colony but then returned to China. Under the “one country, two systems” arrangement, Hong Kong has some autonomy. 

“That these protests are popular cannot be denied.” Ma continues. “Hundreds of thousands of people attended these rallies. But I see this as a wake-up call. Not enough has been done to combat the constant smearing of the Beijing and Hong Kong governments by Western media.”

After months of protests, the extradition bill was withdrawn in September, but the demonstrations continued, with protesters now demanding full democracy and an inquiry into police violence.

“When the Hong Kong government obeys their demands, as they have with the withdrawal of the anti-extradition bill, the protesters don’t care,” Ma explains.

“[But] when the US Senate passes a Hong Kong Freedom and Democracy Act that serves the economic interests of the US and does nothing to further the freedoms of Hongkongers, the protesters are delighted.”

He argues that the Hong Kong Freedom and Democracy Act will not benefit Hong Kong people seeking freedom.

“This Act protects the more than 1,300 United States businesses that benefit from Hong Kong’s proximity to China, independent judiciary, the rule of law, and special trade status,” Ma explains.

“Furthermore, the Act grants US President Donald Trump visa and asset-blocking permissions on the Chinese citizens he deems unfit. Now, how does this increase our freedom?”

To illustrate his stance further, he compares China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak with the United States’s response.

“The protesters who believe freedom will come from riots are a minority in Hong Kong,” Ma says.

“Most of us do not even want to turn into a Western-style democracy, especially after witnessing how the United States handled the coronavirus outbreak. China has just closed the last of its 16 temporary hospitals in a partially reopened Wuhan, while the United States leads the world in total coronavirus deaths.”

The views expressed in this video are the speaker’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

This episode of #AJOPINION was produced by Aisyah Shah Idil and edited by Al Jazeera NewsFeed’s Katya Bohdan. 

NOTE: This episode is a reply to our previous #AJOPINION episode featuring one of the key leaders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, Joshua Wong.