Name? Carrie Lam
Westphalian identity? Chinese
Age? 63
Why is she in the news? As the current chief executive of Hong Kong, Lam is in charge of implementing the new security law that allows Beijing to hold broader authority to interfere in Hong Kong’s legal system.
Why do we care? We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Corona is not an excuse or a cover-up for authoritative behaviors. And yet, leaders like Xi (and Putin and Bolsonaro and others) continue to defy us. Quite frankly, it’s a bit rude…
Why should you care? Human rights? People tend to jump at that term. With this new security law, authorities and courts have greater freedom to suppress the city’s protest movement. Specifically, the law lays out new crimes for ‘subverting the government,’ ‘colluding’ with foreign governments or external sources and simply being suspected of collusion, separatism or terrorism against the central government.
Who else cares? Xi Jinping. While other world leaders are focused on fighting Covid and their reaction’s economic side effects, Xi is wasting no time remaking Hong Kong on his authoritarian terms. Sending a warning to the U.S. and other opposing countries as the new agency will also survey and manage foreign businesses, NGOs and media outlets.
Any further comments? Authorities in Hong Kong wasted no time to begin implementing and executing the law, detaining more than 300 protesters on yesterday’s annual July 1st march. The anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to Beijing held new importance this year as many begin to witness the unraveling of the ‘one country, two systems’ political model for the territory. The new security law brings Hong Kong towards a new era in which civil liberties are tightly constrained and loyalty to the party (we’re looking at you Lam) is particularly paramount.
