Archival Tape -- Laura Jane Lee:

“So I’m Laura Jane Lee, I'm a poet from Hong Kong, I edited a protest anthology, it was a risky move basically. So there was one day I was stopped and searched in basically a big busy area in Hong Kong and basically the day immediately before and after I had the anthology with me and I realised how dangerous it would have been when they had searched me, that they had found the Anthology on me. It would have been I … couldn't I can't imagine it would have been terrible.
It's just that the thought that while they have so much power now, they basically have licence to do all sorts of stuff... It's really scary.”

RUBY:

From Schwartz Media I’m Ruby Jones this is 7am.

On Thursday night the Chinese government passed new laws effectively stamping out democracy in Hong Kong.

The changes will significantly strengthen the Communist Party’s grip on the territory.

Today, world editor for The Saturday Paper Jonathan Pearlman, on whether this is really the end of Hong Kong as we know it, and what happens next to those who have been fighting for freedom.

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RUBY:

Jonathan, a couple of years ago, there was this wave of protests in Hong Kong and it seemed like this was a pivotal moment, a moment that would define Hong Kong's future. Can you tell me about what happened and what was at stake back then?

JONATHAN:

Yes, so those protests were sparked by an extradition bill that was going to be able to allow Hong Kongers to be extradited to mainland China.

Archival Tape -- Reporter:

“This international city, this international financial hub being brought to a literal standstill earlier today because of the sweeping size.”

JONATHAN:

They came out onto the streets. At one point, there was estimates of over a million people marching on the streets of Hong Kong in 2019.

Archival Tape -- Reporter:

“For eleven weekends straight, streams of pro democracy protesters on the streets, hundreds of thousands filled Victoria park and the surrounding streets.”

JONATHAN:

And, every night people would come out onto the balconies or yell from their apartment windows. Hong Kong, Gayao.

Archival Tape -- Protest chants:

“Hong Kong gayau”.

JONATHAN:

Which means Hong Kongers “add oil”, sort of an expression for the keep it up.

The streets became inundated with murals, with posters and Post-it notes being stuck to walls throughout Hong Kong. There was this real energy in the streets then, I think and for not just not just resisting the extradition bill, but for showing a resistance to further erosion of freedom.

Archival Tape -- Protest chants:

“Hong Kong gayau.”

JONATHAN:

And there was a sense at the time that this was really potentially the last time that Hong Kong might get to resist this growing erosion of democracy in China and to fight for their autonomy.

RUBY:

So this moment in time - it sounds like it was really seen as a last chance for the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. But can you tell me a bit about the context here, why these protests were happening in the first place and the role China has played in Hong Kong, historically?

JONATHAN:

Yes, so China regained control of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997. And there's this 50 year period now where Hong Kong has this period of autonomy before it fully reverts to Chinese control.

And it's a system of one country, two systems in which Hong Kong is supposed to have a degree of autonomy and a degree of freedom.

The thing is, when that handover took place in 1997, conditions were quite different. Hong Kong at the time played a really important part in China's economy - about 16 percent of Chinese GDP. Well, today, that's down to about three percent or less. So Hong Kong was really seen as a vital part of China and China was going to have to make compromises to win over the support of the people of Hong Kong. And also, China was seen as needing Hong Kong, needing Hong Kong for its own connections to the West and to the rest of the world, and needing also the import of Hong Kong's commercial and financial activity.

Well, that's that's changed. Obviously, China has risen. Hong Kong is no longer as vital to China's economy or to China. And in some sense what's what's really driving China now is a concern about Chinese national pride. At least that's how the Communist Party say that it is more interested in its insistence on Hong Kong' being part of China's territorial integrity. And it's more concerned about Hong Kong's contribution to Chinese national pride.

RUBY:

OK, so this is about China wanting to see Hong Kong as essentially, you know, a territory that it owns. And what about people in Hong Kong who are pushing back against that idea? Did the protests change anything?

JONATHAN:

This enormous show of support by the people of Hong Kong put pressure on Beijing and was seen as very worrying to China and there were elections held for the district council in late 2019.

And it was one of the biggest turnouts by voters in Hong Kong's history. And it was a huge landslide win for the pro-democracy candidates.

So that was seen as real momentum at that point. But that has changed. And China fought back strongly.

We've seen pro-democracy candidates expelled from votes for the Legislative Council.

Archival Tape -- Reporter:

“In the largest single crackdown yet, dozens of democrats and activists were charged in hk on Sunday in conspiracy to commit subversion.”

JONATHAN:

And then there's been these sweeping arrests of protesters.

Archival Tape -- Reporter:

“Police have carried out dozens of arrests, a man detained for holding a flag of independence, he was also wearing a t- shirt branded with free Hong Kong.”

JONATHAN:

And that includes, importantly, a number of the really prominent protest leaders and former lawmakers in Hong Kong, ranging from Joshua Wong, who is in his early twenties to veterans of the Hong Kong protest movement have been arrested or fled to exile.

Earlier this month, a judge in Hong Kong ordered that this group of forty seven pro-democracy activists who were arrested earlier this year should remain in custody. And there was about a thousand people dressed in black outside the court to show solidarity with the people who'd been arrested.

Archival Tape -- Arrest tape:

“People chant outside court.”

JONATHAN:

So that was really the first sign of protests that we've seen in a while in Hong Kong, but it pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of people that we were seeing in 2019 and early 2020.

And the reason that we've had that change is because of the national security law that China introduced in the middle of last year, that has given China enormous powers to arrest people in Hong Kong for political crimes.

RUBY:

Can you tell me about that - the national security law?

JONATHAN:

So It's a very sweeping law, which is allowed for the detention of enormous numbers of members of the movement,

It's also included the establishment of a Chinese security office in Hong Kong.

So you have Chinese mainland authorities actually involved in cracking down on any signs of protest and in rounding up detainees.

So the national security law at the time, people described its introduction as the end of Hong Kong. And whilst there are still some small signs of pro-democracy protests, certainly that law has led to the end of the leadership of the pro-democracy movement and really the end of the protests and that China continues to pass more laws, more measures.

And this week we saw new laws introduced which are going to further consolidate China's power in Hong Kong.

RUBY:

We’ll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Jonathan, let's talk some more about the legislation that underpins China's position in Hong Kong. What are the specifics of the resolutions that passed last week and how significant are they in the context of what China has been doing in Hong Kong for the past couple of years?

JONATHAN:

So about a month ago, Beijing started to signal that they were going to introduce new laws for stability, and these laws involved changes to the election of members of the Legislative Council.

Now, the Legislative Council, it previously had 70 members. It's going to be expanded. But it was already stacked in favour of Beijing because only thirty five members were popularly elected.

So there was already a rough majority of Beijing candidates in the council, but that pro-democracy minority was still able to exercise a voice. It was able to filibuster. It was able to raise a voice against legislation that it found concerning. And now what China has done has changed the makeup of the Legislative Council to ensure that Patriots, as it says, will be elected. And it's going to vet candidates and it's going to reduce the proportion of seats that go to popularly elected candidates. And as a result, that is going to reduce the importance of that pro-democracy voice within the council.

RUBY:

Mm and so does this mean that Hong Kong's pro-democracy voice is over? It seems like China has a pretty unflinching kind of vision here for how this is going to go.

JONATHAN:

Yes, I think that, I think that's right.

I think that China has a fairly clear and methodical plan for how it is trying to undercut the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. And so we've seen changes to the judiciary. We've seen these national security laws which have resulted in the crushing of the mass protests and the arrests and detention of the pro-democracy leaders.

And now we are seeing that final plank in which that is already fairly small allowance for pro-democracy voices in the council is going to be undercut even further. And so this is really a further erosion of the autonomy of Hong Kong and of the one country, two systems which is supposed to underpin public life there.

RUBY:

And so what does this mean for the people who were out there on the streets in 2019, protesting for democracy - what do they say, and how are they feeling, about all of this?

JONATHAN:

A lot of people in Hong Kong are starting to leave.

Archival Tape -- Laura Jane:

“I’m a poet from Hong Kong, I was born and raised in Hong Kong but I’ve since relocated to singapore.”

JONATHAN:

I spoke to a number of the people who were involved in the protest movement including a person, we’ll call her Laura Jane.

Archival Tape -- Laura Jane:

“I don’t think I see a future for myself with the things that I write about that it would be very safe for me to stay in Hong Kong, and also of course of the political climate and how a lot of stuff has changed. I just don't really see myself staying in Hong Kong for the long term or basically trying to make a life for myself.”

JONATHAN:

So people are starting to leave and the protest movement is moving into the diaspora. But Laura Jane was insistent that the people of Hong Kong will continue to try to speak out

Archival Tape -- Laura Jane:

“It seems as if the protest is dead to many people from overseas looking at Hong Kong. Oh, the protest is dead, but people living in Hong Kong know that, you know, OK, inside in our hearts and our mind, you know, we're not accepting this. We're not accepting defeat.”

JONATHAN:

And will continue to support in any way they can a restoration of the freedoms they've lost and to push for democracy.

Archival Tape -- Laura Jane:

“Perhaps can I just use this opportunity to say, Hong Kong gayau.”

RUBY:

Jonathan, thank you for your time today.

JONATHAN:

Thanks, Ruby.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today…

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has offered to meet with organiser’s of the women’s march for justice being held in Canberra today, however he won’t be attending the rally.

The marches, which are also being held across the country, were organised in response to allegations of sexual assault levelled against attorney general Christian Porter. Porter denies the allegations.

And WA Premier Mark McGowan has led the Labor party to a landslide victory in the state election held over the weekend.

Labor is currently on track to win 53 of 59 seats in the state’s lower house. The Liberals have been reduced to just two seats, with the Nationals set to become the main opposition party.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am, See ya tomorrow.