Postcolonial Politics and Theology by Kwok Pui-lan

Author:Kwok Pui-lan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781646982301
Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY

As a former British colony situated in the interstices of several global powers, Hong Kong raises important questions in the context of protest for democracy and political theology. The “one country, two systems” policy tests the limits of China’s sovereignty and power over Hong Kong. The 2019 protests began as resistance to an extradition law. In the past, there were several incidences in which the Hong Kong government requested the National People’s Congress of China to interpret the laws in Hong Kong. These cases have challenged the judiciary’s independence and the political rights of Hong Kong people.12 In the absence of a democratically elected government, the judiciary plays a key role in protecting and safeguarding the people’s rights. The assumptions behind the laws in China and those of the common law in Hong Kong introduced by the British are very different. China’s imposition of a national security law for Hong Kong in July 2020 and its bypassing of Hong Kong’s legislature has caused an uproar domestically and internationally. Many are afraid that this law curtails the city’s civic liberties, including its traditions of free speech and an independent judiciary. Pro-democracy leaders, such as Martin Lee, argued that this would be a breach of the promise of “one country, two systems.”13 However, pro-Beijing politicians, business leaders, and others supported the national security law as a means to restore law and order after a year’s mass protests and strikes. They underscored that Hong Kong is a part of China and that China has sovereignty over Hong Kong.14

It is noteworthy that during the debate about the national security law, scholars in China have used the work of German conservative jurist Carl Schmitt, who casts a long shadow in Western political theology. Schmitt’s major works were translated into Chinese in the 2000s, and his ideas have sparked much discussion in the philosophy, political science, and law departments of Chinese universities—a phenomenon that has been dubbed “Schmitt fever.” Since President Xi Jinping came to power, a group of Chinese scholars has gained attention because they advocate an expansive view of state authority and support the use of heavy-handed measures to maintain national stability. This group of scholars is called the “Statists.” Schmitt appeals to these scholars because, writing after World War I, Schmitt supported a strong German nation by arguing that the sovereign has the power to make exceptions to the rule of law while also protecting the country from foreign enemies. Citing Schmitt, Chen Duanhong, a law professor at Peking University, argues that when the stability and security of the country is at stake, state leaders have the right to suspend constitutional norms, especially provisions for civil rights. During debates on the imposition of the national security law in 2020, several scholars argued that protests in Hong Kong have posed grave danger to Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity. On their account, the state has the right to use whatever means necessary to bring back law and order in order to protect Hong Kong from infiltration by foreign forces.

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