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Hong Kong at 25
OpinionComment
Bunn Nagara
Bunn Nagara

Opinion | Two years on, national security law proves its worth in safer, more stable Hong Kong

  • Rather than Hong Kong becoming a dystopia, the national security law has strengthened the status quo and returned stability to the streets
  • Beijing could have shown this rebellious city what abandonment looked like, but it kept faith with Hong Kong and the facts speak for themselves

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Screens at an electronics store in Sham Shui Po show President Xi Jinping having a meeting with Chief Executive-elect John Lee Ka-chiu in Beijing on May 30. Photo: Edmond So
Bunn Nagara
After nearly two years of Hong Kong’s national security law, critics condemning it seem more anxious to have their worst fears vindicated than disproved. The city was said to be plunging headlong into a cauldron of tyranny.
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That has not happened, though. Instead, the status quo spanning business activity and civil institutions is better protected from disruptive strife than before.

Protesters who rejected such legislation might be taking a vital civil order for granted. Democratic societies champion such laws for themselves to help preserve their democracy.

In Washington, one morning’s mob violence at the Capitol Building has seen criminal prosecutions more than a year later. Legislators in the US Congress who expressed support for Hong Kong’s months-long protests are busily investigating their protesters while strengthening security on their own turf.

What is the reality in Hong Kong since the promulgation of the security law? Peace and order have returned to the streets and other public spaces. Public transport and other services have resumed to levels before the protests. Business confidence in Hong Kong as a global financial and commercial hub is back. Public safety has been better assured.

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Nonetheless, pockets of resentment against the security law might still exist. That Hong Kong had survived until the law became necessary was the anomaly.

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