The Chinese Communist Party’s Sleight of Hand

by Louie Brogdon Newt has been talking a lot lately about how the Chinese Communist Party lied about and tried to cover up the emergence and spread of the coronavirus in Wuhan. Indeed, it appears the dictatorship’s efforts to conceal the truth about the virus have destroyed numerous lives and wrecked economies across the world. But this tyrannical attempt to save face isn’t the only kind of legerdemain the dictatorship has been employing. It seems now that the Chinese Communist Party is using the world’s focus on the pandemic to its advantage. Recall last summer, when the people of Hong Kong engaged a historic and massive public protest effort over the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to usurp authority over the semi-autonomous region. Since the British released Hong Kong as a colony and passed to China in 1997, the region has enjoyed special legal status which has granted the people of Hong Kong more freedoms and more autonomy than those living on mainland China. Though the Party frames the differences between the mainland and Hong Kong as part of its “one country, two systems” governing model, Hong Kong has always threatened the Chinese Communist Party because it has historically been a successful bastion of commerce, capitalism, and (partial) democracy in the sea of Chinese communism – a living symbol of its failure within its own borders. The Hong Kong protests started after the region’s Chinese Communist Party-backed leadership proposed a law which would allow the Chinese government to extradite people in Hong Kong to mainland China. This would have in effect allowed Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping to apprehend Hong Kongers who were critical of his government – as he does critics in the mainland. The protests had good effect for Hong Kongers. Pro-democracy candidates were elected to almost 90 percent of the local posts up for bid in Hong Kong’s November 2019 elections. However, the protests have since been slowed as a result of social distancing measures to keep the coronavirus at bay. Now, the Chinese Communist Party is taking revenge. As Foreign Policy reported Wednesday, “Beijing has taken advantage of global distraction to begin taking retribution for Hong Kong’s open defiance of China’s rule last year. Recent weeks have seen bellicose rhetoric from Beijing and Hong Kong leaders, castigating pro-democracy legislators for filibustering the work of the legislature and reiterating the need for Hong Kong to introduce controversial anti-subversion legislation.” The Beijing-appointed Hong Kong government has also started arresting pro-democracy leaders and those who participated in last year’s protests. Imagine if the government there had tried this 10 months ago, when the world was watching Hong Kong. There would have been real, economic, and diplomatic consequences for Beijing and its puppet leaders in Hong Kong. There still should be consequences now. Just as North Korea is using the spread of the coronavirus as distraction to test its reckless missile program, the Chinese Communist dictatorship is using its pandemic as cover to steal power and liberty from the people of Hong Kong. Neither government should get away with these despicable acts. The Trump administration and Congress should wield the full authority granted under the bipartisan-supported Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which was signed into US law last November. Sanctions should be imposed on individuals responsible for violating the rights of the people of Hong Kong and these recent government abuses should be weighted heavily in the US’s annual determination to continue to grant Hong Kong unique treatment. The United States – and our allies – should act so that rogue regimes know the world is still watching and bad actions have consequences. Louie Brogdon has been working with me at Gingrich 360 three years. He helped me develop and edit my last three nonfiction books – Understanding Trump, Trump’s America, and Trump vs. China. He also helps me with space policy and politics. – Newt

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