The EU must ditch its deal with China after the arrests in Hong Kong

Earlier this morning, 53 democrats from Hong Kong were arrested. Their crime? Trying to win last September’s elections.

As absurd as it sounds, the new reality in Hong Kong is that it is now effectively a criminal offence, under the National Security Law, for the opposition to have the audacity to try and boost its representation in parliament. ‘The operation today targets the active elements who are suspected to be involved in the crime of overthrowing, or interfering (with)…the Hong Kong government’s legal execution of duties,’ said John Lee, Hong Kong’s security minister. But, as he later suggested, in reality this meant that those who were arrested were simply trying to win a majority of seats in Hong Kong’s legislature.

If it wasn’t clear already, Hong Kong’s unique system and way of life has been shredded. The city’s Legislative Council has always been rigged in favour of Beijing’s clients because only half the seats are democratically elected; the other half are ‘functional constituencies’ controlled by vested interests often with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.