Hong Kong’s response to a recent fire that killed more than 160 people suggests that the city is becoming more authoritarian, Timothy McLaughlin argues—and this will only compound problems that “contributed to last month’s tragedy and that raise the risk of future ones.” theatln.tc/GXObiTeE
When China prepared to assume control of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, Chinese leaders were concerned that the transition would scare off foreign investors. As a result, these leaders “tried to woo real-estate tycoons and other business elites by giving them key roles overseeing the city’s future governance,” McLaughlin explains. But “as the housing market generated greater wealth for Hong Kong’s tycoons, the construction and real-estate industries achieved growing immunity from regulatory oversight.”
“This dynamic most likely played a key role in last month’s fire,” McLaughlin argues. Hong Kong authorities allege that the construction company that had been renovating the Wang Fuk Court towers for the past year used unsafe materials. “But the city’s authorities, too, bear responsibility,” McLaughlin writes. “They seem to have disregarded warning signs about the multimillion-dollar renovation.”
As part of a criminal investigation into the fire, police have arrested some 20 people, including construction-firm bosses and fire-equipment contractors. “At the same time, however, authorities have stifled public expressions of discontent and suppressed civic-led solutions,” McLaughlin continues.
Meanwhile, as some Hong Kongers still mourned, the city held a “patriots only” legislative election. “Only 32 percent of the city voted, in part because the regime had pre-vetted the candidates, purging older lawmakers from the ballots who had connections to the system that predated Beijing’s clampdown of the city in 2020,” McLaughlin writes. “A new guard of über-nationalists took their place.”
“Both the election and the response to the fire suggest that Hong Kong is moving ever closer to Beijing’s system of repression, which meets crises not with transparency and reform but with threats and censorship,” McLaughlin argues. But “a more authoritarian order almost certainly won’t tackle the deep-seated problems.”
The Atlantic
Hong Kong’s response to a recent fire that killed more than 160 people suggests that the city is becoming more authoritarian, Timothy McLaughlin argues—and this will only compound problems that “contributed to last month’s tragedy and that raise the risk of future ones.” theatln.tc/GXObiTeE
When China prepared to assume control of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, Chinese leaders were concerned that the transition would scare off foreign investors. As a result, these leaders “tried to woo real-estate tycoons and other business elites by giving them key roles overseeing the city’s future governance,” McLaughlin explains. But “as the housing market generated greater wealth for Hong Kong’s tycoons, the construction and real-estate industries achieved growing immunity from regulatory oversight.”
“This dynamic most likely played a key role in last month’s fire,” McLaughlin argues. Hong Kong authorities allege that the construction company that had been renovating the Wang Fuk Court towers for the past year used unsafe materials. “But the city’s authorities, too, bear responsibility,” McLaughlin writes. “They seem to have disregarded warning signs about the multimillion-dollar renovation.”
As part of a criminal investigation into the fire, police have arrested some 20 people, including construction-firm bosses and fire-equipment contractors. “At the same time, however, authorities have stifled public expressions of discontent and suppressed civic-led solutions,” McLaughlin continues.
Meanwhile, as some Hong Kongers still mourned, the city held a “patriots only” legislative election. “Only 32 percent of the city voted, in part because the regime had pre-vetted the candidates, purging older lawmakers from the ballots who had connections to the system that predated Beijing’s clampdown of the city in 2020,” McLaughlin writes. “A new guard of über-nationalists took their place.”
“Both the election and the response to the fire suggest that Hong Kong is moving ever closer to Beijing’s system of repression, which meets crises not with transparency and reform but with threats and censorship,” McLaughlin argues. But “a more authoritarian order almost certainly won’t tackle the deep-seated problems.”
Read more: theatln.tc/GXObiTeE
📸: Dale De La Rey / AFP / Getty
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