Washington Post: Testing Hong Kong

Thursday, February 8, 2001 IT HAS BEEN 3 1/2 years since Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule, and there have been no gross violations by the Communist government in Beijing of the city's special status; no arrests of opposition leaders, no closures of independent newspapers, nothing that would compel the attention of Western governments. Still, a more subtle struggle has been underway for some time between those pushing Hong Kong toward greater democracy and those advocating tighter control by Beijing. Now a clear test is shaping up over Hong Kong's treatment of the Falun Gong organization. The Beijing government has steadily escalated its campaign against the spiritual movement, arresting thousands of its followers and allegedly killing more than 100 of them. Last week it began pressuring Hong Kong's authorities to follow suit. Falun Gong has remained a legal movement in Hong Kong, and last month held a conference in the city during which it staged a protest outside the Chinese liaison office. Beijing launched its campaign with a shrill statement citing the protest and accusing Falun Gong of trying to turn Hong Kong into an "anti-China base." Since then there has been an ominous stream of follow-up statements by pro-Beijing officials in Hong Kong: The chief security official promised to more closely monitor the group's activities, even as several politicians demanded that its legal registration be suspended. Most serious of all was a call by Nellie Fong, an influential member of the Executive Council, to enact a new law prohibiting "treason and sedition" against China. Though such a law is formally required by Hong Kong's 1997 constitution, authorities have until now refrained from legislating it, thus avoiding the risk of a showdown with pro-democracy forces. Falun Gong, which has only 400 registered members in Hong Kong, is no more a threat to public order there than it is in Beijing. Its suppression would not only represent a major violation of China's promise to respect Hong Kong's autonomy; it would, as a practical matter, destroy the climate of relative political freedom that until now has survived there. China's Communist leadership is clearly waiting to see how far Hong Kong will go in responding to its pressure tactics. Western governments, including the Bush administration, should make clear that they, too, are paying attention.