UK anti-protest bill embodies prejudice and double standards

Has the United Kingdom suddenly reversed its policy of condemning Beijing’s imposition of security laws in Hong Kong? For years, there has been a relentless campaign of British criticism of Beijing’s actions. 

British government spokespersons, MPs from all the political parties, and virtually the whole UK press and media have stood as one in expressing “moral outrage” at China’s “draconian” security laws. These laws have been portrayed as “destroying” Hong Kong’s basic freedoms and most notably people’s right to protest. Sympathy with the plight of Hong Kong protesters has been universal in the UK. They have been offered refuge from their perceived persecutors and thousands have been encouraged to exchange their “blighted” lives in Hong Kong for a freer new life in a democratic and liberal Britain.         

In the past few weeks, however, the tide seems to have suddenly turned. It must have come as quite a shock to Britain’s Hong Kong protester refugees that British sentiment is undergoing such a profound sea change. Far from condemning “draconian” security laws and upholding “the rights” of protesters, the British government now appears to be in full reverse, with condemnation switching to the protesters themselves. Government policy, supported apparently by the vast majority of British people, is now focused on outlawing the very actions which characterized the Hong Kong protests. The Public Order Bill, currently going through the UK Parliament, is aimed at protecting the public from exactly the sort of chaos which the Hong Kong protesters inflicted.

For years, there has been a relentless campaign of British criticism of Beijing’s actions. British government spokespersons, MPs from all the political parties, and virtually the whole UK press and media have stood as one in expressing “moral outrage” at China’s “draconian” security laws

The language used by the British government in justifying the Bill will certainly have a familiar ring to Hong Kong people. The following are extracts from the British Home Office factsheet.

“This government fully supports the rights of individuals to engage in peaceful protest; however, the serious disruption caused by a small minority of protesters has highlighted that more needs to be done to protect the public and businesses from these unacceptable actions. These new measures are needed to bolster the police’s powers to respond more effectively to disruptive and dangerous protests. Over recent years, guerrilla tactics used by a small minority of protesters have caused a disproportionate impact on the hardworking majority seeking to go about their everyday lives, cost millions in taxpayers’ money and put lives at risk. This has included halting public transport networks, disrupting fuel supplies and preventing hundreds of hard-working people from getting to their jobs.”

The Public Order Bill, once enacted, will criminalize disruptive and dangerous forms of protest, backed up with the threat of prison sentences. In support of this policy, the British government declares that “human rights … are not absolute and must be balanced with the rights and freedoms of others.”

Hong Kong residents who experienced the terrible violence and destruction of the 2019-20 protests and who were baffled by the massive wave of British support for such chaos, can be forgiven for now feeling incredulous at this British volte-face. The Public Order Bill is a reaction not to months of petrol bombings, street fighting, destruction of public and private property, and general anarchy, but to some British climate activists gluing their hands to a motorway and holding up traffic until they were unglued and peacefully led away by the police. 

If Hong Kong’s security laws were condemned in Britain as a massive overreaction to protests, what does this make the British Public Order Bill, and how should Hong Kong people respond? Should they welcome this new alignment of British and Hong Kong approaches to public order? Or should they condemn “draconian” British policy and support refugee status for protesters wanting to flee the UK? The more likely response, of course, is for people simply to shake their heads and reflect sadly on the prejudice, double standards and hypocrisy that have plagued Anglo-Chinese relations for the past few years.

The author is a British historian and former principal of Sha Tin College. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.