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LEADING ARTICLE

China shows its true colours —

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and they’re not pretty
Sunday December 05 2021, 12.01am GMT, The Sunday Times

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A protester detained by police during demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2019

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nyone who doubts the ruthless way that China operates,

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A and its disregard for acceptable norms of behaviour, should
consider two things we highlight today. The first is that the
actions of Beijing have made a mockery of any semblance of
democracy in Hong Kong and the “one country, two systems” model it
signed up to when the territory was handed over by Britain in 1997.
The second is the plight of the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, as
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revealed in her own words, which we have translated into English.

Hong Kong will hold elections to its legislative council (LegCo) on

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vetted by the authorities, are allowed to stand.

Traditional opposition parties are not putting up candidates. The

reaction to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong has been a savage
clampdown. Most leading pro-democracy figures are in prison, exiled,
barred from holding o�ce or have quit politics.

The only chance of any kind of democratic victory in the LegCo

elections is for voters to boycott them, to the point where a low
turnout would be an embarrassment for the authorities, who have
already been taking action against those urging such a boycott. In
truth, however, this would be a pyrrhic victory. Everything we know
about Hong Kong is that it has been lost to a cold-blooded Beijing,
which never had any serious intention of honouring the 1997
settlement or preserving personal and political freedom.

The British government, which has a responsibility to guard the

interests of Hong Kong citizens, has said and done very little. In
October Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, spoke out and said it was
“deeply concerning” that 55 democratically elected district councillors
in Hong Kong had been disqualified and more than 250 pressured to
resign, and called on its government to “uphold freedom of speech”.
In response, she was condemned by China as irresponsible. The horse
has bolted on freedom and democracy in Hong Kong and the stable
door is swinging wide open.

As for Peng, her own account, posted in a blog on November 2, of the

sex abuse she underwent from the former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli is
deeply disturbing and heartrending.

It o�ers an insight into what should be a massive #MeToo scandal in

China, though most of its citizens will be unaware of it. It also reveals
how China’s senior politicians operate. Peng was, as she says, forced
to have sex with Mr Zhang and treated with contempt by both him
and his wife. It is entirely right that the Women’s Tennis Association
has suspended all tournaments in China and entirely wrong that this
does not appear to have troubled the International Olympic
Association, which in two months will hold its Winter Games in
Beijing.

In its actions in destroying democracy in Hong Kong, and in the

treatment of its own citizens — most, such as the persecuted Uighurs,
not as individually well known as Peng — China is showing its true
colours. It is a very ugly sight.

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