Acouple of incidents in Hong Kong caught my attention last week. The first was a report that the worsening influenza outbreak in the territory had prompted authorities to shut all kindergartens and primary schools just days before the scheduled Lunar New Year holidays. The flu has been especially severe this winter, having caused 111 deaths since January, and health experts warn it may not yet have peaked.
Anything that causes people to worry about their health or security is bad news for Hong Kong, given its status as a tourism and business magnet. Confidence is critical in the former British colony, which prides itself on its reputation as one of the most business-friendly places on earth. The US-based Heritage Foundation announced this month that Hong Kong topped its Index of Economic Freedom for the 24th consecutive year.
Among 180 economies measured, Hong Kong edged up 0.4 points from 2017 to 90.2 on a 100-point scale, leading Singapore by 1.4 points. Other standouts were New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia and Ireland, all of which scored 80 or higher. The “mostly free” group with scores of 70 to 79.9 included Taiwan, Japan and Macau, while China fell into the “mostly unfree” category at 57.8 points.
Hong Kong also topped Switzerland and Singapore last year as the world’s most competitive economy for the second year running in a survey by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD). It based its conclusions on four indicators: economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.
The Heritage Foundation, meanwhile, cites Hong Kong’s legal framework that “provides effective protection of property rights and strongly supports the rule of law. ... There is little tolerance for corruption, and a high degree of transparency enhances government integrity”.
Read the think-tank’s report and you’ll see the word “freedom” mentioned frequently. Among the 12 components it measured, Hong Kong achieved high scores of 90 or above in eight, with top scores for fiscal health, business freedom, trade freedom and financial freedom.
That got me thinking: shouldn’t the world’s freest economy also offer its residents freedom to express their opinions? Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow have been asking the same question as China tightens its grip on its supposedly semi-autonomous territory. The young democracy activists recently spent two months in jail for their roles in the 2014 “Umbrella Movement” protests.
They won a substantial legal victory last week when the territory’s top court threw out their prison sentences. Mr Wong, however, may still end up behind bars as he’s still appealing a three-month sentence for a separate contempt case related to the 2014 protests.
The trio have drawn praise for their peaceful efforts to promote political reform and ensure Hong Kong’s famed rule of law also applies where human rights are concerned. A dozen US lawmakers have even nominated Mr Wong and his friends along with the entire Hong Kong pro-democracy movement for the Nobel Peace Prize. That did not sit well with Hong Kong and Beijing officials. “Foreign meddling,” they complained.
Since 2014 there have been dozens of cases brought against protesters and pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong, which observers say are designed to sap morale and dissuade others from taking to the streets.
Last month, Agnes Chow, a member of the Demosisto party to which Wong and Law also belong, had her application to run in a coming by-election denied. Her sin? Her party’s platform says Hong Kong residents should be allowed to decide on their own future, including voting on a potential break from China.
In 2016 several candidates advocating independence were also barred from running for office. Authorities said approving such candidates would run counter to constitutional principles as a Special Administrative Region of China.
Mr Law was elected to the semi-democratic legislature in 2016 but was one of six pro-democracy lawmakers disqualified after a government legal challenge. Mr Wong also planned to run for office but his prison sentence barred him from standing for office for five years.
How disappointing it was to hear Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, discussing Ms Chow’s case, declare that “any suggestion of Hong Kong independence or democratic self-determination ... deviates from the important basic principle of ‘one country, two systems’,” under which the city is governed.
After two decades of recognition as the world’s freest economy, should Hong Kong people be happy even though they do not have freedom of expression? I doubt it. Respecting freedom of speech should be a priority for leaders everywhere. Regrettably, it is not in many countries.