The hammer and sickle effect in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is on a losing spree. It has just lost the 2023 World Dragon Boat Racing Championships to Bangkok. This year’s Hong Kong Open badminton is also gone and a junior world fencing championship has given the city a miss. Two other major events, the local marathon and Oxfam trail walk, also have been cancelled.

SuperReturn Asia, an annual gathering of private equity and venture capital industry members has been shifted to Singapore.

All this is linked to Quixotic Covid policies of the Hong Kong government which is forcing visitors from going to the city. Visitors to the city had to undergo 21 days of isolation in a hotel room initially. That period was reduced over the last two years, but even now the arrivals have to stay in a hotel for three days and at home for four days.

Despite pleas from sports organisers, business groups and even pro-Beijing lawmakers to ease quarantine measures, Hong Kong government is dilly-dallying about it.

At a time when the rest of the world is opening up its borders and easing restrictions like mandatory face masks, Hong Kong seems to be stuck in the past. Its policies are fashioned more to reflect the severe quarantine rules on mainland China rather than science or available data.

Watch | Hong Kong likely to remove pre-flight PCR test mandate, changes could come before late October

This is quite a fall for Hong Kong as it was known for its no-nonsense approach when it comes to health policies and it was the experts in the city who alerted the world about the outbreak of Sars in China in 2003 even when the authorities in China kept others in the dark.

When the Covid pandemic started in Wuhan, again it was repeated. The vibrant media in the city was quick to report on the events there and top microbiologists in Hong Kong warned of the impending dangers even when the mainland authorities initially tried to pretend it was a limited outbreak.

All that has changed after Beijing started its crackdown in the city after the 2019 protests and enacted the draconian National Security Law in 2020, which meant criticism of the government policies could invite non-bailable arrest warrants.

Also Read | World's top dragon boat competition ditches Hong Kong over Covid restrictions

When a Bloomberg report indicated a split among top officials about the current quarantine policies, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau blasted the media over its “unprofessionalism” and warned such reports “may also affect the government’s fight against the pandemic”. Many health experts now skirt around key issues and there is no political opposition to raise concerns as almost all leaders are in jail. Most of the independent media also has shut down.

The combination of senseless Covid policies and drastic curtailing of freedoms is changing the city fundamentally and professionals from almost every sector like health, accounting and media are deserting the city. Popular eateries are closing down as Covid restrictions hit their revenue while hotel owners say thousands of workers will be out of jobs if the borders are not opened soon.

Schools are seeing a steady exodus of students and teachers and the population of Hong Kong has recorded the sharpest annual drop as both local and expatriate families leave the city in droves.

Critics of Beijing say the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has only one tool – hammer – to deal with every trouble and so they see every problem as a nail. CCP certainly has been using the same tool of lockdowns to deal with Covid-19 for almost three years though the virus has mutated into several forms and the disease patterns have changed.

Also Read | Message to Beijing? Hong Kongers come out in large numbers for Queen Elizabeth

In Hong Kong, authorities seem to be using the hammer along with a sickle to slash down every imaginable form of dissent. A host of trade unions and activist forums have ceased to exist as they fear falling foul of the new security law. Even buskers singing songs that were popular during the 2019 protests face the ire of police and people coming out to place flowers to mark dates of key political protests are prevented from doing so.

It was against this backdrop that thousands lined up outside the British consulate to pay respects when Queen Elizabeth died.

“When mourning the queen, we are mourning the lost Hong Kong,” said Cathleen Cheung, 30, a social worker who was among those who queued up to pay respect.

The fall of Hong Kong, from being a global financial hub to an also-ran Chinese city, is relentless. The former British colony was in a tight race with Singapore for the tag as the global city of Asia for decades. Despite the squeaky clean image of Singapore, many professionals chose Hong Kong as their base as free-wheeling atmosphere of the city proved to be a magnet.

But now that race has virtually ended. Singapore is surging ahead as it attracts finance conferences and big-ticket events like concert of Guns N' Roses while getting ready to welcome back the F1 race. It has removed almost every Covid restriction and the Changi Airport is buzzing with activity. The Singapore airport was recently billed as the top in Asia for passenger volume while Hong Kong didn’t even make it to the top ten.

“With Hong Kong increasingly linked to mainland China both economically and policy-wise, Singapore is able to further differentiate itself as a controller of its own destiny and as a hub for major international events,” said Curtis Chin, a former US ambassador to the Asian Development Bank.

Local media now speculates that Hong Kong could do away with compulsory hotel stay soon and ask visitors to stay home for a week with restrictions on visiting crowded public places. Whether it will save the city is a moot point as many other countries in the region have completely done away with Covid restrictions and competing to lure back the visitors.

(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.)

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