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Looking back over the past year in Hong Kong, it’s hard to fathom how much has changed. Pandemic, arrests, National Security Law, cancelled elections. Here’s a gallop through 2020 with a little help from a few of our @bopinion columns this year. (1/8)
Early on in the pandemic, I wrote Hong Kong was beginning to resemble a failed state. By definition, that’s one that is unable to protect citizens, to provide basic services and where government legitimacy is questioned. The trust deficit remains. (2/8) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-02-09/coronavirus-hong-kong-shows-symptoms-of-a-failed-state
In May, we pointed out the extent to which foreign firms were underestimating the risks ahead. They may not need democracy, I argued, but they do need a functioning financial center, and that requires certain freedoms. The NSL followed weeks later. (3/8) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-05-16/hong-kong-faces-long-summer-of-protests-after-coronavirus
Then, the government postponed elections by a year, citing coronavirus restrictions. It was a reminder, as @mbrookerhk and I wrote, of how threatening votes can be for authoritarian regimes — even when the system is stacked in their favor. (4/8) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-08-01/hong-kong-takes-the-zero-risk-option-with-election-delay
The changes of 2020 and pandemic restrictions have also made inequality - one of the territory's biggest problems - worse. So here’s my look at Hong Kong’s threadbare welfare state and how it could be reformed to serve an ageing society in dire need. (5/8) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-11-17/hong-kong-needs-to-tackle-its-worsening-inequality
Now for some brave new words. Nowhere has Hong Kong's political shift been more visible than in official rhetoric. In the space of a few months, opponents became the enemies of the people. It fits a global trend in 2020, we wrote: (6/8) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-09-09/hong-kong-s-war-on-truth-embodies-world-s-autocratic-shift
November brought the chief executive’s delayed annual address. The speech clocked in at 24,000 words, but the contrast with 2019’s chaotic scenes said far more about Hong Kong's evolution over the past 12 months. (7/8) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-11-25/carrie-lam-s-long-speech-provides-little-solace-for-a-protest-free-hong-kong
And to wrap up, read @mbrookerhk’s ode to Hong Kong. “Its fate will be dissolved into a larger destiny, as was always likely and perhaps inevitable. My poor adopted city. Designed for obsolescence but wanting more life, it did burn so very brightly.” (8/8) https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-opinion-hong-kong-is-now-a-city-of-the-past/
