key: cord-0034105-a25elc4a
authors: Hui, Victoria Tin-bor
title: Beijing's Hard and Soft Repression in Hong Kong
date: 2020-03-04
journal: Orbis
DOI: 10.1016/j.orbis.2020.02.010
sha: c3707f63904a49ea98f1d084a78c2e94defd0547
doc_id: 34105
cord_uid: a25elc4a

Hong Kong's new Police Commissioner Chris Tang announced in Beijing on December 7, 2019, that he would use “both hard and soft approaches” to end the anti-government protests. This article argues that such “approaches” amount to physical and non-physical repression—hard power, but employed by Hong Kong, rather than mainland, forces, combined with sharp power exercised by both Beijing and the local authorities. These measures are responses to the limits on what Beijing can do under the “one country, two systems” model. As Beijing cannot send the People's Liberation Army (PLA), it has subverted Hong Kong's once-respected civilian police force to act like the mainland's public security. And as Hong Kong's judiciary is relatively autonomous and many of the arrested would not be convicted or sentenced, the police have resorted to a decapacitation campaign to inflict direct violence on protesters. Moreover, as the city's freedom has allowed the public to support protesters in various ways, Beijing has launched a program of dismissal of pro-democracy individuals in both public and private sectors. To zoom in on Beijing's hard and soft repression, this article examines in closer detail the other “frontliners” at protest sites who provide professional services vital to the sustainability of protests: medics, firefighters, lawyers, journalists, and educators.

It is also noteworthy that Tang, who was once the district commander in Yuen Long, is reputed to be linked to the mob attacks on commuters, residents, and passers-by in Yuen Long station on July 21. 14 When Lam's deputy, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung, apologized that "the police's handling fell short of the citizens' expectations," he was rebuked publicly by the Police Inspectors' Association. 15 One anonymous statement read: "Matthew Cheung, why do you deserve to represent the police force? If you want to apologize, you should resign. You don't step down or apologize to the whole force, you will be a sworn enemy of the police!" 16

Tang's hard and soft instruments are means to overcome the limits on what Beijing can do under the "one country, two systems" model. In trying to get around these constraints, Beijing is making a "less spectacular and more insidious" attempt to "dismantle the city's lifeblood of liberal education, judicial independence and press freedom." 17 Tang stressed that hardness does not mean the quintessential form of hard power-the deployment of People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers. Although the military released a threatening video of anti-riot drills on July 31, 2019 and doubled the number of troops stationed in the Hong Kong garrison from 6,000 to about 12,000, 18 13 Jun Mai, Echo Xie and William Zheng, "Why was China's domestic security chief Guo Shengkun at Carrie Lam's meeting with Xi Jinping?" South China Morning Post, Dec. 17, 2019, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3042352/why-was-chinas-domesticsecurity-chief-guo-shengkun-carrie-lams. 14 Lok-kei Sum, "Hong Kong police chief tangles with opposition councilors for second time in week over force's handling of protests," South China Morning Post, Jan. 22, 2020, https://www.scmp.com/news/-hong-kong/politics/article/3047251/hong-kong-policechief-tangles-opposition-councillors. 15 Christy Leung and Victor Ting, "Police anger after Hong Kong No 2 Matthew Cheung says sorry for Yuen Long attack response," South China Morning Post, Jul. 26, 2019, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3020251/hong-kong-no-2matthew-cheung-says-sorry-police-response. 16 Holmes Chan, "Hong Kong's chief sec. apologises over handling of Yuen Long attacks, stirring dissent from police," Hong Kong Free Press, July 26, 2019, https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/07/26/hong-kongs-chief-sec-apologises-handlingyuen-long-attacks-stirring-dissent-police/. 17 Kirsty Needham, "There's a bigger and more insidious threat to Hong Kong than the PLA," The Sydney Morning Herald, Jan. 10, 2020, https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/theres-a-bigger-and-more-insidious-threat-to-hong-kong-than-the-pla-20191231-p53nun.html. 18 Greg Torode, James Pomfret, and David Lague, "The China Challenge: The Hong Kong Front," Reuters, Sept. 30, 2019, https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/chinaarmy-hongkong/.

the PLA largely has stayed inside the barracks. When they ventured out onto the streets of Hong Kong in November and December 2019, they were dressed in civilian clothes and armed with buckets rather than guns to clear roads of debris. This act led many observers, including U.S. President Donald Trump, to praise General Secretary Xi's restraint in handling the unrest in Hong Kong.

However, rolling out military tanks into Hong Kong in a fashion reminiscent of Beijing's suppression of pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989 is not its only option. In fact, it would be the worst choice-and counterproductive. It would be tantamount to the formal abrogation of the "one country, two systems" model that Beijing pledged for post-handover Hong Kong. This action could trigger other countries to end Hong Kong's special customs status from which Beijing has reaped immense benefits and could destroy confidence in Hong Kong's economy. U.S. officials apparently warned their Chinese counterparts that "there would be consequences if China tried to use force" against Hong Kong protesters. 19 Yet, even in the mainland, Beijing has, since Tiananmen, turned to public security officers rather than military troops to intimidate and silence rights defense activists.

Beijing cannot send down its own public security officers to Hong Kong either, at least not in mainland uniforms. But the central government has appropriated the city's once-respected civilian police force to inflict "direct violence" or physical repression on protesters. 20 Beijing effectively has turned Hong Kong's police force from "Asia's finest" into an extension of mainland's public security, arresting and beating protesters with impunity. 21 News reports suggest that the plan is to "arrest as many as possible . . . until there is nobody left." 22 By mid-January 2020, police had arrested more than 7,000 and charged 2,000 for unlawful assemblies, rioting, possession of weapons, arson, and other offenses.

The police have followed an unprecedented and lawless decapacitation campaign, inflicting debilitating injuries on protesters and supporters. They regularly have fired tear gas, rubber bullets, beanbag rounds, and water cannons at high velocity, at head level, and at close range, so that even technically non-lethal crowd-control 19 However, the message was simply "don't kill them" rather than "long live democracy." Uri Friedman and Peter Nicholas, "Hong Kong: A Defining Moment for Trump's Foreign Policy," The Atlantic, Aug. 23, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/ 2019/08/hong-kong-will-define-trumps-foreign-policy/596683/. 20 ] "A total of over 10,000 petrol bombs seized from various universities, 4000 from Poly U, 5,890 protesters arrested since June," Dimsum Daily Hong Kong, Nov. 29, 2019, https://www.dimsumdaily.hk/a-total-of-over-10000-petrol-bombs-seized-from-variousuniversities-4000-from-poly-u-5890-protesters-arrested-since-june/ 27 Kris Cheng, "Hong Kong police accused of driving vehicles into protesters during clearance operation," Hong Kong Free Press, Nov.19, 2019, https://www.hongkongfp.com/ 2019/11/19/hong-kong-police-accused-driving-vehicles-protesters-clearance-operation/. 28 Kanis Leung, "Arrest and detention of children over Hong Kong's anti-government protests raise questions on police treatment and legal process," South China Morning Post, Oct. 20, 2019, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3033706/arrest-anddetention-children-over-hong-kongs-anti. 29 Amnesty International, "Hong Kong: Arbitrary arrests, brutal beatings and torture in police detention revealed," Sept. 19, 2019, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/09/hong-kong-arbitrary-arrests-brutalbeatings-and-torture-in-police-detention-revealed/. 30 Chris Lau, "Hong Kong student who accused police of sexual violence against protesters has taken legal advice and plans further action," South China Morning Post, Oct. 11, 2019, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3032610/hong-kongstudent-who-accused-police-sexual-violence. 31 Jennifer Creery, "'Grossly unprofessional': Lawyers slam Hong Kong police for 'privacy breach' after woman accuses officers of gang rape," Hong Kong Free Press, Nov. 12, 2019, https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/11/12/grossly-unprofessional-lawyers-slam-hongkong-police-privacy-breach-woman-accuses-officers-gang-rape/.

As such, Beijing has orchestrated a bloody crackdown with or without mainland forces. Media and civic organizations, both internationally and locally, have compiled reports documenting police abuses. 32 Significantly, the riot police have committed such beatings and torture in front of professional and citizen cameras, suggesting that "they understand they are immune from redress." 33 Indeed, Carrie Lam repeatedly has praised the police force's "outstanding performance" and denounced accusations of police violence. 34 In order to punish the arrested, Beijing also targets Hong Kong's judicial autonomy as promised in the Basic Law, which is another major constraint on its ability to repress dissent. In mainland China, the public security bureau can detain targets for lengthy periods and can count on judges to convict those who are charged. In Hong Kong, professional judges still tend to follow the common law tradition, which historically has been sensitive to the free speech rights of public order defendants. Beijing has not hidden its displeasure at Hong Kong's judicial independence. In the aftermath of the Umbrella Movement in 2014, central officials and local pro-regime voices repeatedly complained that judges released the majority of protest-related defendants or gave very lenient sentences to the convicted few. 35 In November 2016, Chen Zuoer, former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, ominously asked: "The price of committing an offence was too low in some situations in Hong Kong… Taking the Occupy Movement as an example, how many movement leaders were brought to the court up until now? Why were they not in the court?" Since then, courts have been more obliging, giving activists jail sentences rather than community service. By 2019, the Chief Executive's "overriding power" over appointments has turned the Justice Department into a trusted agency to charge those arrested with the heaviest crimes, including rioting and arson. Judges' independence has also been weakened by promotions and appointments of regime loyalists. Nonetheless, the courts are still buttressed by professional judges who issue verdicts strictly based on evidence. In November 2019, a local court particularly infuriated Beijing by declaring unconstitutional the government's ban on protesters' wearing masks. 36 In response, Beijing officials have urged all branches of government, the judiciary as well as the executive and the legislature, to join forces in "stopping the violence and ending the turmoil." 37 The authorities in Hong Kong have taken steps to undermine another constraint -the freedom of expression guaranteed in the Basic Law. Protests in Hong Kong require a "no objection" permit from the police. The application was merely a pro forma procedure for decades after the handover. However, after another massive turnout of 1.7 million (in a city of 7.4 million) on August 18, the police began to issue objections, rendering subsequent protests "unlawful assemblies" vulnerable to arrests and beatings. Although the police granted permission for an annual demonstration on January 1, 2020, they ordered organizers to suspend it half way through, then rounded up and arrested hundreds of protesters. The police also refused to issue permits for Lunar New Year market fairs to some pro-democracy grassroots organizations and District Councilors. Even Lennon Walls of post-its and art works with political messages have been taken down by government cleaners with riot police standing guard. While protesters who participate in and organize "unlawful assemblies" can be arrested, beaten, and convicted, supporters who merely post sympathetic messages on social media and donate money and supplies cannot be charged, let alone convicted.

This leads to Tang's "softer" hand in his mix of hard and soft methods. "Soft power," according to scholar Joseph Nye, should be "the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments." A country's sources of soft power are "its culture (in places where it is attractive to others), its political values (when it lives up to them at home and abroad), and its foreign policies (when they are seen as legitimate and having moral authority)." 38 However, as analysts at the National Endowment for Democracy Christopher Walker and Jessica Ludwig contend, Beijing's suppression of political pluralism and free expression beyond its borders constitutes "sharp," rather than "soft," power. 39 Hong Kong commentator Chi-kin Lo agrees that China's so-called "soft" power is in fact menacing. 40 Repressive "sharp power" or "political warfare" can be as effective as hard power, whether by military or police forces. In the mainland, the party has deployed not only physical batons and guns, but also non-physical ideological indoctrination, legal persecution, denial of licenses, employment discrimination, harassment, and surveillance. In freer Hong Kong, the Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have deployed the weapons of appointment versus dismissal and of funding. If hard power or physical repression aims at decapacitating core protesters, sharp power or nonphysical repression is better suited for intimidating broader society. Physical repression tends to backfire, especially when abuses are live streamed, while non-physical forms are less visible and less likely to generate public outrage.

Beijing's sharp power in Hong Kong is wide-ranging because there is significant support for the protests. 41 In the District Council elections held on November 24, 2019, candidates who campaigned on protest demands won 57 percent of the popular vote and 391 out of 452 seats, taking the majority in 17 of 18 District Councils. 42 Across Hong Kong, many professional groups have organized prodemocracy protests, including: medical professionals, social workers, civil servants, lawyers, airlines crew, teachers, accountants, surveyors, architects, and financial sector staff. Various groups have self-organized to provide supplies and service to protesters. Restaurants and churches have offered shelters. Middle-class car owners have served as chauffeurs to transport protesters after the police took control over the mass transit system last August. Passersby and protesters alike document police abuses and immediately share footage on social media. 43 In response to this whole-of-society support, Beijing has launched a whole-of-society crackdown. The logic is not unlike standard counterinsurgency: if "insurgents" are like "fish in water," then the most effective way to destroy the fish is to drain the water. 45 Beijing, along with the Hong Kong government, has used its potent political and financial leverage to subdue Hong Kong. First, the Hong Kong government funds not just the civil service, but also a variety of public sectors, including mass transit, health care, universities, schools, sports, and arts. Mainland businesses, many closely linked to the party and the state, also dominate the Hong Kong economy. 46 Beijing, thus, has the clout to pressure even the private sector to police their employees' open support for the protests. Most notably, Cathay Pacific Airlines has fired staff for posting "Go Hong Kong!" 47

The measures used against frontline protesters are well-known and wellchronicled. 48 The repression of "other frontliners" provides even more telling illustrations of Beijing's combined use of hard and soft repression against the entire society -methods that lie between the direct use of "hard power" that Beijing has foregone and the "soft power" that Beijing and the Hong Kong government lack. The authorities particularly have targeted professionals who have maintained a regular presence at protest sites. Firefighters, first-aid volunteers, journalists, social workers, security guards, and civil rights observers are in this category. Some of them are on site simply to perform their professional roles, not necessarily to show their political support for protesters. Their presence "facilitates the accountability of public officers as well as … measures to protect the right to peaceful assembly," aspects vital to the sustainability of protests. 49 As police abuses escalated, professionals began to provide humanitarian assistance to protesters. Yet, over time, these professionals have themselves become increasingly vulnerable to physical repression. Chi-wai Lam, chairman of the Junior Police Officers' Association, contends that those who simply stand and watch also have to bear criminal liability: "Your acts of assisting rioters to commit crime and escape, or obstructing police officers to execute duties are possibly unlawful." 50 On January 1, 2020, even the non-political Civil Rights Observer had three members arrested for the first time. The police explained that no one-including journalists, first-aiders, and observers-had the right to stay in a "riot." 51 This blatantly violates the international norms that independent monitors "should not be harassed, arrested or penalized as a result of their attendance at a protest for observation," "no matter whether an assembly is declared unlawful, is no longer peaceful, or is dispersed." 52 Arrested or not, frontline professionals are also subject to non-physical repression, especially dismissal.

Civil Servants. As civil servants include not just administrative staff, but also firefighters, medics, teachers, and social workers-that is, many other types of frontliners-the first order is to remake the once-impartial civil servants into de facto Chinese Communist Party cadres. While Beijing has long insisted that the Chief Executive appoint "patriots" to top government positions, now the ranks of middleand lower-level public employees are also to be cleansed of protest supporters. Pro-Beijing Executive Council member Kwok-him Ip has said that Hong Kong's civil servants are formally party-state cadres. 53 Beijing's official People's Daily warns that civil servants who either "sympathize with" or "silently approve of" protests would suffer the certain consequence of "losing their careers and future prospects" and "perishing 49 "Arrest of human rights monitors in breach of the Hong Kong government's international obligations," Frontline Defenders, Feb. 11, 2020, https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/arrest-human-rights-monitorsbreach-hong-kong-governments-international-human. 50 Karen Zhang, "Hong Kong police union chief condemns protesters who claim 'peaceful' tag, and says they are just as guilty as violent radicals," South China Morning Post, Dec. 28, 2019, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3043761/hong-kongpolice-union-chief-condemns-protesters-who. 51 Jeffie Lam and Victor Ting, " Hong Kong protests: civil rights group accuses police of breaking international law after three observers are arrested," South China Morning Post, Jan. 2, 2020, https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3044305/hong-kongprotests-civil-rights-group-accuses-police. with rioters." 54 In early January 2020, Secretary for Civil Service Joshua Law announced that 31 out of 41 arrested civil servants were suspended, even if they had not been charged or convicted. 55 In this environment, civil servants who want to improve their career prospects are visibly expressing their loyalty. When newly elected pro-democracy District Councilors moved motions condemning the government or the police, administrative officers, who are supposed to serve any elected representatives, staged walkouts. 56 Medics. Police operations that inflict debilitating injuries on protesters would be less effective if the injured are readily treated. As such, the police have fired crowdcontrol weapons at first-aiders, required emergency workers and ambulances to seek police permission and even obstructed their paths, rounded up suspected protesters at hospitals, ordered doctors to provide bare minimal treatment to patients at detention wards and banned nurses from calling families on their behalf. Tsz-lok Chow, the first undeniable protest-related death, died partially because the police had blocked an ambulance arriving for him. 57 Seeing hundreds, then thousands, of injured people fearful of going to hospitals, doctors and nurses created underground clinics at the end of July 2019. 58 They have witnessed first-hand the extent of physical harm, including bone fractures and brain injuries with risks of permanent disabilities. 59 Thus, the profession has signed petitions and staged sit-ins and rallies criticizing police brutality, even under the slogan "Hong Kong police attempt to murder Hong Kong citizens." 60 Medics insist they must provide medical treatment to people of all political views, yet the police have increasingly accused them of siding with protesters and called them "black doctors" and "black nurses." 61 When the first doctor was arrested in mid-October 2019, the Hospital Authority expressed "concern and sympathy" to the employee involved and offered to "provide appropriate and feasible help." State media, the People's Daily, charged the public body for being "biased," while Xinhua News accused it of "harboring violence." 62 Although video footage showed that the doctor was not involved in any violence, Xinhua asked, "Is the authority standing with mobs and violence, or standing on the side of the Special Administrative Region government and law and justice?" The commentary urged the Hospital Authority not to "take a soft stance" when handling "hospitals that obstructed police enforcing law" and "health care workers joining violent illegal activities." 63 The most disturbing scene occurred during the siege of Polytechnic University on November 17. As Dr. Darrren Mann wrote in The Lancet, A photograph, widely circulated online, shows at least 16 individuals sitting on the ground with their hands bound behind their backs with zip-cords: they are wearing high-visibility vests with descriptions of Doctor, Nurse, and EMT (emergency medical technician). These people were all arrested for taking part in a riot. . . . At least five doctors are known to have been arrested and detained by police for more than 24 hours. . . . The actions of the Hong Kong Police Force have fallen far below accepted international norms for the handling of volunteer emergency medical providers. The arrest of these personnel is almost unheard of in civilised countries and is incompatible with the compact of humanitarianism. Furthermore, the chilling effect can only serve to deter would-be volunteers from offering their services in the much-needed medical care of injured people in this ongoing uncivil war. 64 At the U.K. House of Lords, Dr. Mann even testified that the Hong Kong police have turned the city's medical system into "an instrument of terror." 65 Firefighters. Another group of professionals who routinely work closely with police officers and emergency care providers are firefighters. Firefighters first won public applause when they answered calls to assist the injured during the Yuen Long incident of July 21, 2019, when police officers walked away. The same incident, however, also led the police to begin targeting firefighters. The police ordered the Fire Services Department (FSD) to seek permission when operating at protest sites. In October 2019, over 200 frontline firefighters issued a statement accusing senior FSD officials of "blindly supporting" the police. The statement reads: "We have witnessed many times that police officers obstruct, mislead or even insult FSD personnel who were conducting rescue operations. . . . If anyone needs medical services, FSD personnel have a legal responsibility to ensure the injured person receives timely and suitable care and hospitalization." 66 Among the 31 civil servants who have been arrested and suspended by January 2020, nine are firefighters and first-aiders with the FSD. 67 More staff have had their social media accounts scrutinized for any pro-protest speech. 68 Lawyers. The arrested need legal assistance and legal fees. Since July 2019, over 200 lawyers have provided pro bono legal service. 69 However, the police have put barriers between the arrested and the volunteer lawyers. Lawyers must first know the names and identity numbers of the arrested. In many instances caught on film, riot police are seen to muffle the arrested so that they cannot call out their identity. Even with names and identity numbers, lawyers need to run in and out of different police stations in different districts to look for the arrested. On August 11, the police sent the arrested to San Uk Ling, the farthest possible detention center close to the border. When lawyers finally discovered the location, they were denied access for as long as 12 hours. 70 Meanwhile, officers compelled the detained to answer questions without legal representation.

Joy Luk, a blind lawyer who shows up at protest sites to counsel the arrested on their rights and to take down their identities, has been shot by tear gas and water 66 Holmes Chan, "Explainer: Aggressive policing creates rifts in Hong Kong's civil service, with firefighters caught in fallout," Hong Kong Free Press, Nov. 11, 2019, https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/11/11/explainer-aggressive-policing-creates-rifts-hongkongs-civil-service-firefighters-caught-fallout/; "Hong Kong s firemen statement," Oct. 8, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ssDzt2jGwk&feature= youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR365Ym8STp-Ehs-fHTtgOMFcCG-QQ2sRu2RFpfE4b8b4BHCc2XjBpAfT2Q. 67 cannon and arrested herself. 71 Supporters have also raised funds to help the arrested with legal fees and living expenses. On December 19, the police froze the Spark Alliance's HK$70 million and detained four leaders for "money laundering." 72 Journalists. Carrie Lam disclosed at Davos that she faced pressure from the pro-regime camp to require reporters to seek official permission, but she rejected the idea for fear of undermining freedom of media. 73 While that may be a "softer" gesture, journalists who are on site to film and record police abuses have been subject to harder repression. The police have denied reporters access to scenes of arrests, blocked and damaged their cameras, fired crowd-control weapons at them, and attacked and even arrested some. The motivation is well captured by what officers have said to reporters: "Film, film, film! You love to film!" 74 and "If we tell you not to film, you have to stop filming!" 75 Police actions against journalists dramatically escalated during the run up to the national day on October 1 and after. Multiple reporters were injured on October 1, leading various news organizations to recall their reporters for the day. 76 At various locations, the police dragged reporters to the ground and pepper-sprayed them even when they were not close to protesters. 77 International correspondents, as well as local reporters, have been targeted. American journalist Suzanne Sataline was detained and wrote about how she became part of the news. 78 The most notorious case was the firing of a projectile that blinded Indonesian journalist Veby Indah, even though she was standing with other visibly identified journalists away from protesters. 79 The international Committee to Protect Journalists has documented "numerous incidents of unprovoked attacks on journalist with pepper spray or tear gas," noting that such "disturbing incidents" are "difficult to explain as anything other than intentional attacks or, at a minimum, extremely undisciplined and unprofessional police work." 80 The Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA) has similarly tallied the wounds suffered by its members and compiled written and visual reports. 81 In October 2019, it sued the police for "deliberately aggressive and obstructive police tactics, as well as unnecessary and excessive force" against members. 82 In January 2020, the HKJA further complained that police spokespersons used "lies to cover up the abuse of power by frontline officers." 83 In addition to physical abuses, police officers also have broadcast reporters' identity cards on live-streaming media in violation of their privacy. 84 A pro-Beijing newspaper, Ta Kung Pao, published the names and personal details of six reporters who put up protest signs reading "Investigate Policy Violence and End Police Lies," while they were attending a police press conference. 85 Radio Television Hong Kong, a publicly funded media organization, has been criticized for not serving as the government's mouthpiece and is threatened to have its funding and programs cut. 86

Educators. Among the 7,000-plus people arrested, over 2,800 are students, one as young as 11-years-old. 87 Thousands of university and secondary school students have clashed with the police; many more have done what Education Secretary Kevin Yeung warns they should not do: "stage, or participate in political activities, including class boycotts, singing songs, chanting slogans, forming human chains or other related activities like distributing flyers promoting political messages." 88 According to a People's Daily commentary, students should be as pure as white sheets of paper, but have become militant because Hong Kong's educators have polluted their minds and incited hatred of the police. 89 Police spokespeople likewise blame educators for "leading students in criminal acts." 90 Secondary and primary schools in Hong Kong are numerous and not easy to control. Nevertheless, Kevin Yeung told the Shanghai Observer that he has the authority to sack school principals who do not discharge the required duties. 93 Since Fall 2019, the Education Department has asked schools to hand over names of teachers and students who participated in class strikes and to suspend the 80 teachers who have been arrested, even if they have not been charged or convicted. 94 When it was disclosed that the topic for the upcoming inter-school debate competition would be "reorganization of the police force," the Education Department pressed schools to withdraw from the competition and provide lists of students involved. 95 Pro-Beijing teaching staff have filed complaints about their pro-democracy colleagues' "hate speech," "provocative acts," or "inappropriate comments," with consequences of suspension, demotion, postponement of salary increase, or transfer to non-teaching posts. 96 In at least one case, a teacher was absolved by the school for what he said on Facebook that was only shared with friends, but was still issued a warning letter for misconduct by the Education Department. 97 To proactively root out dissenting voices, the Education Department is hiring retired police officers to investigate teachers and students. 98 Some schools recently have installed CCTV cameras in classrooms. 99 The Professional Teachers' Union, which has been at the vanguard of Hong Kong's democracy movement for decades, decried the "white terror" campaign at a rally on January 4, 2020. 100 Beijing also attributes the protests to the weakness of Chinese nationalism in Hong Kong. The November 1, 2019 decision by the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Plenum emphasizes the need to "strengthen national education of Hong Kong and Macau people, especially civil servants and youth, including education of the constitution and the Basic Law, Chinese history and culture, in order to boost their national consciousness and patriotic spirit." 101 Kevin Yeung has launched a review of textbooks for "liberal studies" 102 that are accused of radicalizing students. 103 While secondary schools are the new battlegrounds, universities have long been targets of hard and soft repression because professors and college students share a longer history of dissent. The 2014 Umbrella Movement was spearheaded by the Occupy Trio, two of whom are Professors Benny Tai of Hong Kong University and Kin-man Chan of Chinese University. They have since been sentenced to 16 months in jail. Tai is waiting for appeal, but the university is launching disciplinary procedure to dismiss him. 104 Another pro-democracy legislator and professor Ka-Chun Shiu of the Baptist University, also convicted for his leading role in the Umbrella Movement, has been dismissed. In addition, faculty believe that the Liaison Office sends mainland students to report on classes, especially those at the Law School of the Hong Kong University, the Government and Public Administration Department of the Chinese University, the Journalism School at Baptist University, and the Cultural Studies program at Lingnan University. 105 To rein in the broader campuses, the Hong Kong government has wielded the power of funding and appointment. After the outbreak of protests, officials have taken "swift revenge" by cutting back funding. 106 The sticks of appointments have been deployed for much longer. Former Chief Executive C. Y. Leung already stacked university councils with pro-regime appointees. 107 The loyal councilors then duly appointed politically correct candidates to become presidents and deans. As an example, Johannes Chan, former dean of the Hong Kong University Law School, was accused of sheltering Benny Tai, and thus denied promotion to become a pro-Vice Chancellor. Since the closure of the Umbrella Movement, all universities have experienced reshuffles in leadership.

Vice Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Rocky Tuan offers an interesting exception. He originally made only non-committal statements which students found wanting. 108 Nonetheless, after an emotional meeting with students on October 10, 2019, in which students wept recounting the torture and sexual assault that they had experienced by the police, Professor Tuan issued an open letter on October 18 stating, "Any proven case of improper use of force or violation of human rights by certain police officers must be condemned." 109 Such mild language should not be controversial, especially given that about 80 percent of the Hong Kong population support an independent inquiry into police abuses. 110 However, the chairs of eight university councils immediately issued a rebuttal stating that universities should not be involved in politics and that faculty and students who have broken the law are subject to disciplinary actions. 111 All four police associations, the Superintendents' Association, the Police Inspectors' Association, the Overseas Inspectors' Association, and the Junior Police Officers' Association, were quick to condemn Tuan for his "biased" statement based on only student accounts. 112 The People's Daily likewise published a commentary attacking Tuan. 113 The China Daily followed suit. 114 In pointed contrast, Times Higher Education named Professor Tuan one of its "people of the year." 115 Soft -or more properly speaking, sharp --repression likely awaits Tuan.

Are the combined hard and soft forms of repression-the extensive uses of sharp power or political warfare by Beijing and the Hong Kong government, coupled with coercion by nominally Hong Kong police-effective? With over 7,000 people arrested and thousands more injured, core protesters have suffered high attrition. With hard and soft repression extended to the "other frontliners," especially medics, lawyers, and journalists, even the most committed protesters could be isolated from needed support. With systematic dismissals of pro-democracy civil servants and educators along with Cathay Pacific staff, wider society lives in a blanket of intimidation.

With the appointment of hardline state leaders to oversee Hong Kong, an even harder and sharper crackdown to "stop the violence and end the turmoil" may yet to come. 116 The new Liaison Office director Luo Huining has reiterated the need to introduce national security law and related measures in Hong Kong. 117 The new Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Xia Baolong has a track record of demolishing crosses and churches in Zhejiang on President Xi Jinping's order.

Nevertheless, even though Beijing has successfully "mainlandized" the police force, the rest of the society is much harder to subdue. As scholars of contentious politics Charles Tilly and Sidney Tarrow explain, As a report compiled by the centrist Third Way shows, the majority of hardcore protesters are driven and radicalized by police brutality. 119 The government's purge of civil servants and teachers on the one hand, and its carte blanche immunity for the police on the other, has further inflamed the protest movement.

Protesters have vowed to fight on but have switched to more sustainable forms of contention. Newly elected District Councilors have tried to hold the government and the police more accountable despite obstructions from loyalist police officers and civil servants. Supporters have created a "yellow economic circle" to patronize pro-democracy "yellow businesses" and boycott pro-regime "blue businesses," integrating the struggle into daily life. Various professions have formed new unions so as to launch more effective strikes.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus has added fuel to the fire and has the potential to further unite the pro-democracy and normally pro-regime camps. Carrie Lam's initial refusal to wear face masks at press conferences in January highlighted both her subservience to Beijing's downplaying of the public health risks from the virus and her support for the unconstitutional ban on protesters' wearing face masks. Lam's refusal to close the borders to control the spread of the virus, as advised by Hong Kong's most trusted university doctors, is another example that the Chief Executive lacks autonomy. When Hong Kong's medics launched a strike from February 3-7, 2020, they enjoyed 80 percent of popular support. 120 Other sectors, including immigration officers, Hong Kong Rail staff, Dragonair crews, and hotel workers have also discussed industrial actions.

Luo Huining has ridiculed medical workers' strike as a "political form of coronavirus." 121 Beijing has associated boycotts and strikes with "color revolutions" 122 and shown no more tolerance for these nonviolent means than violent street confrontations. As a Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office spokesman said earlier, the goal of strikes and boycotts is "to paralyze the Hong Kong government" and "seize the power for governing the Special Administrative Region." 123 If the authorities block peaceful, legal channels with harsher repression, Hong Kong will only become more ungovernable.

Ultimately, Xia Baolong should be reminded that, if he treats Hong Kong like Zhejiang, the rest of the world would follow suit. The coronavirus has provided a timely and vivid illustration of what it means when the international community is

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I Was Begging for Mercy

Patterns of repression: Timeline of the 2019 Hong Kong protests

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The Hong Kong Reckoning," testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission "U.S.-China Relations in 2019: A Year in Review

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Firefighters confirmed that ambulance to rescue UST student was blocked

The medics defying authorities to secretly treat Hong Kong protesters, The Sydney Morning Herald

Nurse from Northern District Hospital discloses unusual injuries among the arrested

More than 1,000 health care staff stage sit-in to condemn 'excessive use of force' by Hong Kong police on anti-government protesters

Letter to Siu-Por Lam (Carrie Lam's husband)

People's Daily take Hong Kong's Hospital Authority to task over its response to a doctor's arrest during Sunday's protests

Xinhua, People's Daily take Hong Kong's Hospital Authority to task over its response to a doctor's arrest during Sunday's protests

International humanitarian norms are violated in Hong Kong

Christopher Hughes' account of the talk, cited with permission, circulated on listserv Chinapol

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CPJ calls on Hong Kong chief executive to establish body to probe police violence against journalists

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Western District mouthpiece blackens the press, Ta Kung publishes the names and faces of 6 reporters

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Hong Kong education chief warns principals may be fired if they support teachers under investigation over protests

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At least 80 Hong Kong teachers have been arrested over anti-government protests, as education chief reveals at least four have resigned or been suspended

Teacher judged for professional misconduct by Education Department after case dismissed by school

Po Leung Kuk secondary school set up surveillance CCTV; angry parents: going to school is not going to jail

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Kevin Yeung earlier said participation was voluntary, today required publishers to submit civic education textbooks

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University of Hong Kong starts procedure to decide whether co-founder of Occupy movement Benny Tai should be fired from his teaching job

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Repression generally succeeds in smothering contention if the prior level of mobilization was low. However, if state violence is increased after a protest cycle . . . is well underway, this repression is more likely to provoke even higher levels of challenge

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Contentious Politics

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When Hong Kong did not ban travel from Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, neighboring countries imposed travel bans on Hong Kong along with other Chinese cities. The U.S.'s Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act passed in November 2019 mandates annual certification of Hong Kong's autonomy if the city is to maintain its special economic status. 124 Here is the last limit on what Beijing cannot do-if Chinese elites still want to access dual use technologies, raise funds

Congress tabled, debated, and passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act in the face of heightening police brutality