Whose Side of the Hong Kong Protests is the Chinese Government Really on?
The implementation of the anti-mask law by the Hong Kong government ought to be a new tool for authorities to finally put more pressure on protestors to calm themselves down. With security cameras and facial recognition technology, there would certainly be more anxiety among people on the streets that their untoward acts toward the police, government authorities, and supposed pro-China business establishments will be punished later when their personal identities are revealed. No doubt, the policy escalation is a move that would gain approval from those who see protestors as violent rioters bending to destroy the city.
However, the move to implement the anti-mask law also shows the desperation of the Hong Kong authorities, especially the police. Months of anti-protestor actions by thousands of policemen have not only not reduced the ranks of protestors but also seen a gradual uptick of previously peaceful hordes of protestors mixed with violent ones, who are then counteracted by equally violent anti-protest vigilantes. As protests and counterprotests drag on and turn more violent, the credibility of the Hong Kong police as a protector of the city's security and order is diminishing rapidly.
So much for the Chinese government and pro-China folks' steadfast support of the police. A favorite slogan of those who are against the protests is that they "support the Hong Kong police," portraying the policemen as true victims of violence for the past months. Censored news on the mainland never fails to report on instances of policemen suffering injuries and "heroically" defending the peace of the city against the supposedly violent radicals, even it means drawing their guns and telling unarmed youths to back off. The message is clear in pro-China media: Hong Kong police should be supported because they are the righteous defenders of peace and prosperity.
Yet, by lauding portraying the police as using whatever means necessary, including the anti-mask law, to maintain an increasingly tenuous sense of peace, pro-China media is subtly also questioning the very effectiveness of the Hong Kong police's capability and capacity to keep the protests contained. With every new piece of information on how the police are struggling to counter more violent acts and more destructive aftermath, in the forms of shuttered shops and injured bystanders, pro-China media is inviting their audience to conclude that the Hong Kong police is no longer enough by itself to handle the protestors.
And questioning the effectiveness of the Hong Kong police is a veiled attack on the entirety of Hong Kong's current governmental institutions. While calling for popular support for the Hong Kong police force and chief executive Carrie Lam, pro-establishment media has increasingly shifted focus to the escalation of violence and slow reaction of the local authorities, in essence illustrating just how ill-suited and hapless the city's ruling elites are in the face of a situation spiraling out of control. Reading between the lines, one should come away from reading pro-China articles thinking that Hong Kong's weak institutions are just as important of a factor, if not more than the protestors themselves, in causing Hong Kong to reach a whole new level of chaos.
Thought this way, Beijing's intention for focusing on the violence of radical rioters in its propaganda is a two-faced attack, both on the protestors and the Hong Kong government. Bloody scenes of destroyed shops discredit both the protestors' image as peaceful and Hong Kong authorities' image as capable guardians of the city's peace and order. By attacking both sides, Beijing is telling people that failure of government in Hong Kong is leading to the anarchy that cannot be independently contained. Thus, it invites itself to intervene more directly in local affairs, taking over from the ineffective local authorities.
Such a message from Beijing is much more dangerous than Beijing that fully supports the Hong Kong government to manage the entire situation by itself. By telling people on the mainland and pro-China folks in Hong Kong that the Hong Kong government is incapable, it attacks the very foundation of the "one country, two systems" principle underlying the city's relationship with the mainland. After all, if the "system" that governs Hong Kong cannot effectively keep peace in the city, it begs the question of whether the system is even worth keeping at all.
For those who think that Beijing is on the side of the Hong Kong government and police during the past months of protests should think again. While openly supporting local authorities in propaganda, Beijing allowed coverage of the most violent of protestors in state-owned media, in the process implying the ineffectiveness of the local police in preventing such violence. Such coverage, in truth, is undermining the authority of the Hong Kong police and government in the eyes of pro-China people across the world. Ironically, Beijing might be doing more, quite deliberately, to make the Hong Kong authorities seem weak and ineffective than the millions of protestors.
However, the move to implement the anti-mask law also shows the desperation of the Hong Kong authorities, especially the police. Months of anti-protestor actions by thousands of policemen have not only not reduced the ranks of protestors but also seen a gradual uptick of previously peaceful hordes of protestors mixed with violent ones, who are then counteracted by equally violent anti-protest vigilantes. As protests and counterprotests drag on and turn more violent, the credibility of the Hong Kong police as a protector of the city's security and order is diminishing rapidly.
So much for the Chinese government and pro-China folks' steadfast support of the police. A favorite slogan of those who are against the protests is that they "support the Hong Kong police," portraying the policemen as true victims of violence for the past months. Censored news on the mainland never fails to report on instances of policemen suffering injuries and "heroically" defending the peace of the city against the supposedly violent radicals, even it means drawing their guns and telling unarmed youths to back off. The message is clear in pro-China media: Hong Kong police should be supported because they are the righteous defenders of peace and prosperity.
Yet, by lauding portraying the police as using whatever means necessary, including the anti-mask law, to maintain an increasingly tenuous sense of peace, pro-China media is subtly also questioning the very effectiveness of the Hong Kong police's capability and capacity to keep the protests contained. With every new piece of information on how the police are struggling to counter more violent acts and more destructive aftermath, in the forms of shuttered shops and injured bystanders, pro-China media is inviting their audience to conclude that the Hong Kong police is no longer enough by itself to handle the protestors.
And questioning the effectiveness of the Hong Kong police is a veiled attack on the entirety of Hong Kong's current governmental institutions. While calling for popular support for the Hong Kong police force and chief executive Carrie Lam, pro-establishment media has increasingly shifted focus to the escalation of violence and slow reaction of the local authorities, in essence illustrating just how ill-suited and hapless the city's ruling elites are in the face of a situation spiraling out of control. Reading between the lines, one should come away from reading pro-China articles thinking that Hong Kong's weak institutions are just as important of a factor, if not more than the protestors themselves, in causing Hong Kong to reach a whole new level of chaos.
Thought this way, Beijing's intention for focusing on the violence of radical rioters in its propaganda is a two-faced attack, both on the protestors and the Hong Kong government. Bloody scenes of destroyed shops discredit both the protestors' image as peaceful and Hong Kong authorities' image as capable guardians of the city's peace and order. By attacking both sides, Beijing is telling people that failure of government in Hong Kong is leading to the anarchy that cannot be independently contained. Thus, it invites itself to intervene more directly in local affairs, taking over from the ineffective local authorities.
Such a message from Beijing is much more dangerous than Beijing that fully supports the Hong Kong government to manage the entire situation by itself. By telling people on the mainland and pro-China folks in Hong Kong that the Hong Kong government is incapable, it attacks the very foundation of the "one country, two systems" principle underlying the city's relationship with the mainland. After all, if the "system" that governs Hong Kong cannot effectively keep peace in the city, it begs the question of whether the system is even worth keeping at all.
For those who think that Beijing is on the side of the Hong Kong government and police during the past months of protests should think again. While openly supporting local authorities in propaganda, Beijing allowed coverage of the most violent of protestors in state-owned media, in the process implying the ineffectiveness of the local police in preventing such violence. Such coverage, in truth, is undermining the authority of the Hong Kong police and government in the eyes of pro-China people across the world. Ironically, Beijing might be doing more, quite deliberately, to make the Hong Kong authorities seem weak and ineffective than the millions of protestors.
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