Along with the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong has been celebrating National Day every year since the establishment of the special administrative region on July 1, 1997. But this year more people in the city have come to realize the significance of National Day, and what it means to them today.
The numerous stories recently floated on online media platforms about the broken dreams of many Hong Kong emigrants to the United Kingdom or elsewhere have helped many realize that Hong Kong is a far better place to live.
This realization in turn has led many, including even some who are still hounded by a nostalgic sentiment, to sincerely wish Hong Kong and the country well. After all, the special administrative region and its motherland share a common destiny.
Nothing has foretold this shared common destiny better than the geopolitical maneuvers that have been carried out so far by Washington in cooperation with its allies to contain China’s rise. The “Hong Kong card” has been repeatedly played by Washington in its China-thumping campaign ever since it designated China as one of its main rivals in 2018, with the sacrifice of Hong Kong people’s well-being being considered worth making.
Donald Trump, the then-US president, saw no need to hide Washington’s intention to sacrifice Hong Kong people’s interests and well-being just to inflict harm on China when he announced on July 14, 2020, the scrapping of Hong Kong’s preferential trading status with the United States, pronouncing that “Hong Kong markets will go to hell, nobody’s going to do business”, and that the city would no longer be able to “compete with free markets” and would “fail”.
The current US administration of President Joe Biden is not going to handle Hong Kong with kid gloves when it sees the need for the US to play the “Hong Kong card” again. Washington’s recent maneuvers of brinkmanship, pushing Taiwan to the edge of the abyss, have helped ensure Hong Kong people no longer remain under any illusion that politicians in Washington will have mercy on Hong Kong when push comes to shove during the course of their China-thumping endeavors.
Nor does the prospect of a new administration — to be installed after the next US presidential election on Nov 5, 2024 — support such an illusion. Containing China by all means has become a bipartisan conviction and cause in the US. The odds are high that such “cards” and others in the making will come in handy when Washington sees a rising urgency to stop China’s socioeconomic development as the gap in national strength between the two countries further narrows in the coming years, a scenario seen by many Sinophobic politicians in Washington as a threat to the US’ global hegemonic power and thus the colossal interests it guarantees.
To the relief of Hong Kong residents, the National Security Law implemented in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, and the subsequent overhaul of its election system have, in effect, created a moat for the special administrative region, keeping the anti-China subversives and their external patrons at bay and warding off any major disruption that can shake society, like the insurrection of 2019. Equally comforting is the fact that the huge mainland hinterland, which has been one of the key factors behind Hong Kong’s economic prowess and success gained over the past few decades, provides Hong Kong with the necessary buffer to with stand any attack on the city on the economic front, particularly in the financial market.
National Day celebrations nowadays inspire confidence that Hong Kong will fare better and thrive through its ties with the motherland and the rest of the world.
The author is a current affairs commentator.