Diplomatic niceties ignore the human rights cost of doing business with China
Source: Australian Financial Review
My father - Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and former media owner Jimmy Lai - has been held behind bars under its national security law since 2020. His incarceration has dire consequences not just for my family, but for the prospects of those who continue to do business in Hong Kong and with China.
At 76-years-old, my father is Hong Kong's oldest political prisoner. He sits in solitary confinement, where he risks spending the rest of his life. Hong Kong authorities are persecuting him because he published a newspaper that dared to criticise Beijing and demand democracy.
They shut his newspaper after police raided his newsrooms, seized its assets and arrested his journalists. They are not content to target just him, but any business that might fall out of their good books. After my father's arrest, Hong Kong's leader, John Li, then the city's secretary for security, sent letters to international banks HSBC and Citibank threatening up to seven years' jail for dealing in my father's accounts.
In persecuting one man, Chinese authorities are showing the world that nobody is safe from becoming a target in Hong Kong. My father was a business tycoon and media publisher to the largest newspaper in the city. He could have left at any point before his arrest in 2020. He chose to stay because he felt a responsibility to stand with his journalists and his city.
He chose to stay because, despite the litany of legal charges the government had thrown at him, he knew it was the duty of those who have tasted freedom to stand up for it.
Hong Kong has plummeted in world press freedom rankings, dropping from No. 18 to 140 in the RSF World Press Freedom Index in the past two decades and is now grouped alongside nations such as South Sudan, Syria, Ethiopia and Lebanon. Nearly 30 journalists, press freedom advocates and their allies have been prosecuted under the NSL, according to Reporters Without Borders, 12 of whom are still in prison just like my father, Jimmy.
The risk of falling afoul of Hong Kong's national security law extends to international businesses. The British government's Overseas Business Risk Guidance has expressed "concerns about the impact of the wider political environment on businesses operating in Hong Kong. (The) political environment remains divided between those that support democracy and those that support closer ties with mainland China."
It adds that "some businesses in the city "have faced pressure to take public positions on political developments - to either support or renounce the Chinese government's stance towards Hong Kong".
There is a clear dichotomy between supporting democratic values and cosying up to China for a sweeter trade deal. The message for businesses in Hong Kong is clear: swear fealty to an autocracy, or run the risk of being the target of government persecution.
My father's case should be a red flag to those who still wish to make their money in China. The price of doing business in Hong Kong now is to toe the authorities' arbitrary red lines. And these lines are constantly shifting. Authorities have wide and discretionary powers to punish all perceived dissent under its national security laws.
Hong Kong cannot continue to be a financial centre without a robust legal system and commitment to the rule of law. Without trust in the institutions a financial centre crumbles. Earlier this month, two UK judges left the city's highest court. One cited the city's "oppressive" environment.
I have little hope that my father will receive any kind of fair trial. Only the international community can hold those in power responsible for his persecution, like Premier Li, to account. The case of Australian journalist Cheng Lei is proof that this government can apply the necessary pressure to make a difference.
Beyond my father's fate and that of Hong Kong's people, these crackdowns should concern everyone, especially those who believe in the right to live and do business with dignity.