The Importance of the Police
One of the leaders of the 2014 protest is Hong Kong student Joshua Wong. During the protests, he was only 17 years old, yet his organization, Scholarism, was instrumental in shaping the 2014 protests. Driven by non-violence, Joshua helped set up the massive occupations of Hong Kong’s financial district in hopes of forcing Beijing’s hands. As covered in last week’s post, Beijing kept its cool and allowed Hong Kong’s local police force to gradually disperse the protesters. With the 2017 elections just around the corner, Joshua needs to realize the key to a successful student movement in Hong Kong is getting the city’s police force on his side.
When David Cameron visited Hong Kong in 2015, Joshua Wong publicly told the Prime Minister that he “could not trust” (1) Chinese assurances that Human rights have been respected. In a interview with the Independent, he condemned the UK for not pressuring Beijing during the protests. The message is clear. Hong Kong’s democracy and human rights could not be sustained without British help. In 2016, Wong and other student leaders are hopeful for more concrete international support. Already, preparations are being made for even bigger protests in 2016 and especially 2017. After all, as they dispersed in 2017, Joshua and other protest leaders promised to come back in 2016, in greater numbers. Yet why should the UK and the international community intervene? Beijing did not send in the People’s Liberation Army to do another Tiananmen Square style crack down. They simply ordered Hong Kong’s police to gradually and quietly disperse the protesters. If the International Community were to confront China, the diplomatic situation could get out of hand, with potential consequences much greater than disenfranchised students made to disperse and return to their homes. As long as Hong Kong’s police force is on China’s side, Beijing as the initiative.
In 2016, Joshua must shift his focus. Instead of organizing mass protests intended to grab the World’s attention (he got plenty of that in 2014) he must win over the City’s police. Before the protests, Hong Kong’s police force was regarded as one of the best in the world. The blemishes of violence in 2014 has put the department in an awkward situation, with community leaders claiming a breach between the community and the department (2). Another mass protest will force the police to once again be the unwilling enforcers of law and order, further alienating them from the populace and potentially forcing them to side with the CCP in the future. Thus, it is in the democratic activists’ best interest to avoid confrontation. By tugging at the City’s heartstrings without resorting to fiery, disorderly protests in the streets, Joshua can bring gradual and peaceful change to Hong Kong, reminding the police of the city they hail from and the people they serve.
With the Hong Kong police department’s support, the initiative will be firmly with the protesters. Beijing will be forced to relent or send in its own armies, both of which will have massive consequences.
1) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/joshua-wong-teenage-hong-kong-protest-leader-urges-uk-to-press-china-on-human-rights-in-the-former-a6700376.html
2) http://www.wsj.com/articles/hong-kong-polices-use-of-tear-gas-during-protests-hurts-reputation-of-asias-finest-1412398431
