As a child growing up in the 60’s, my mom’s mantra was “an apple a day.…” you know the rest. Eating one freed me from every having to ingest that awful cherry-tasting medicine. So, of course, I happily crunched on red, green and every color in between, right off the tree in my back yard. In April 1976 Apple Computer was founded and it yielded a new meaning to the word “apple.” Nine years later Apple Daily Newspaper was founded in Hong Kong.
Unlike the fruit and computer, I had not heard about the publication until recently and knew few details until a police raid on its headquarters last August. It was, for a while, one of the best-selling newspapers in Hong Kong. This week on Wednesday, July 23, 2021, residents of Hong Kong formed block-long lines to buy its final edition while others demonstrated outside the paper’s office in support of the publication.
What is so important about this smaller paper is that Apply Daily favored Hong Kong pan-democracy and was openly critical of the Chinese government. Its viewpoint in the end served as the death knell for the publication. With its assets frozen and the arrests of Apple Daily’s senior staff the paper was forced to announce its closure. Along with 800 staffers losing their jobs, Hong Kong lost the final thread of its freedom of speech.
The remaining Hong Kong newspapers now all run the same government-approved front page for fear that the horrific national security law could end up imprisoning them, too, as it has Jimmy Lai, Apple Daily’s founder. One of the paper’s opinion writers also was arrested this week ensuring that the former staffers are intimidated into silence. Some are fleeing Hong Kong unable to find work and fearful of retribution. Those who stay put in Hong Kong can be counted on to self-censor, according to officials. So dies the last flame of free press for Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents.
A hidden concern few dare whisper is what comes next. Is it entertainment? What about academia? With the effective end of the “One Country, Two Systems” until 2047 agreement, little is left of what was once an economic jewel. But there is more… Hong Kong is the canary in the coalmine.” Soon China may go after Taiwan. Earlier this month the incoming and outgoing heads of the US Indo-Pacific Command warned Congress that China could attack Taiwan by 2027 or sooner. Changes in the political-military environment in East Asia are coming faster than expected. It could emerge as a “Donbas”[Ukraine] style fight or an outright invasion.
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The West needs to recognize that Chinese President-for-Life Xi Jinping (習近平) is a firm advocate of unification. He views Taiwan as a pressing issue at the front of his political agenda and one where force may need to be employed to achieve China’s goal. Certainly, Beijing’s lack of interest in reaching out to the people in Taiwan is an indicator of Xi’s attitude. Second, is the CCP’s willingness to exert its military influence in the area around Taiwan. Incursions into Taiwanese waters and airspace occur on an almost daily basis in recent months. If Xi’s military commanders are telling him the use of China’s modern military force is now a viable option, he may be pushed into bringing the long-standing issue to conclusion sooner than expected. Is this a one-two punch condemning Taiwan to conquest? With Hong Kong failing fast, Taiwan appears to be the next piece to be acquired in China’s global chess game unless the US and other freedom-loving nations step up to help.
DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.
Illustration: Pixabay