The inhumanity of the CCP’s war on free speech

For most people, if a family member or loved one is unwell, you try to be there for them. Unfortunately, for many Hong Kongers around the world, this is now an impossibility.

Earlier this year, Hong Kong passed a new piece of legislation entitled Article 23. This law gives the authorities even more sweeping powers to restrict free speech than the already draconian 2020 National Security Law. Both laws were imposed on Hong Kong by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in conjunction with the regional government.

The 2020 National Security Law was put in place to criminalise any activity the government views as ‘sedition’, ‘subversion’ or ‘terrorism’. Article 23 goes further still in clamping down on civil liberties and criminalising dissent. It promises harsher sentences for dissenters, and allows trials to take place behind closed doors. Many pro-democracy activists now face an even greater risk of being arrested and accused of ‘colluding with foreign forces’ or ‘inciting hatred’.

It means that Hongkongers who have called out the wrongdoing of the CCP and fled abroad are now at risk of arrest, trial and imprisonment if they ever set foot in Hong Kong again. Those threatened by this new legislation include courageous human-rights campaigners like Nathan Law, Finn Lau, Anna Kwok, Frances Hui, Simon Cheng and Joey Siu.

As a journalist critical of the CCP and now living in the UK, I am also affected by this new law. On Thursday morning, I received a message from one of the most important people in my life. He has been diagnosed with cancer and is currently waiting for the results from doctors to see if the cancer has spread. But because of the CCP’s legislative clampdown on dissent, I would be at risk of arrest should I return to see him.

The CCP’s war on fundamental freedoms has already claimed many victims. Publisher and journalist Jimmy Lai, law professor Benny Tai, human-rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, politician Gwyneth Ho and many others have already been imprisoned after falling foul of the CCP. As have many activists challenging the Uyghur genocide, the incursions in Taiwan or the repression in Tibet.

Many activists now living abroad after challenging the CCP are tirelessly risking their futures to try to get the world’s governments to understand the threat it poses to democracy. Yet from Canada to Germany, these governments are only too willing to turn a blind eye and kowtow to Beijing – a tribute to China’s power and influence as the second-biggest economy in the world.

How much more evidence does the UK and the world need to realise that the CCP is a threat to democracy? Its infiltration and penetration into the UK alone is enormous, from alleged spies in parliament to cyberattacks on MPs. Then there’s the fact that a huge amount of surveillance technology in the UK is made by a controversial Chinese surveillance company.

It seems that the reach of the authoritarian CCP now extends around the world. I know of many other Hong Kongers who desperately need to go back home to visit their parents and loved ones. Yet to do so, they are forced to stay silent. But since there is no turning back for me, I feel obliged to speak up for those who cannot speak. It is the right thing to do.

Chloe Lo is a Hong Konger and former Bloomberg reporter who covered prominent court proceedings tied to the Hong Kong unrest and the National Security Law. Follow her on X: @ChloecLoNews