The Future of Hong Kong

Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs

In May 2020, the Chinese Communist Party announced a sweeping new National Security Law for Hong Kong. The law, enacted in July, ambigulously outlaws separatism, subversion, and terrorism. When the law was enacted, experts debated over how forcefully Beijing and Hong Kong authorities would enforce the law, and how that enforcement would affect the civil liberties of Hong Kongers. A year and a half later, many believe we have an answer to that debate. Beijing has used the law to widely crack down on Hong Kong’s civil institutions, from its self-governing parliament and labor unions to opposition politicians and the free press. In this episode, we discuss how Hong Kong has changed since the law’s passage and what the future of the territory may hold. Joining us today is Sunny Cheung.

Sunny Cheung is a Hong Kong activist, politician, and current student at Johns Hopkins SAIS. He is the former spokesman for the Hong Kong Higher Institutions International Affairs Delegation (HKIAD). Cheung participated in the Umbrella Revolution of 2014 and the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests, testified to the U.S. congress on the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement in 2019, and was a candidate in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy primary elections of July 2020.

The Future of Hong Kong