The Hill
Date: 04/24/20
By: Jianli Yang and Aaron Rhodes, Opinion Contributors

On April 18, Beijing intensified its crackdown on the people of Hong Kong by arresting 14 high-profile Hong Kong democracy activists on charges of “illegal assembly.” Those arrested include the 82-year-old Martin Lee Chu-ming, considered the “grandfather of democracy” in Hong Kong, and media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, owner of the largest pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily.

These arrests are a classic example of opportunism by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The regime of Xi Jinping apparently has calculated that:

• The pandemic provides a distraction, and thus an opportunity, for a preemptive strike against the opposition that will thwart protests likely to occur around June 9, the first anniversary of the Hong Kong anti-extradition legislation protests. 
• The United States, United Kingdom and other democratic powers, consumed by domestic challenges, are unable to react in meaningful ways, beyond condemning the arrests. The only liability the CCP likely will face is lip service supporting abstract principles.
• In the context of the global financial crisis caused by the pandemic, Hong Kong’s economy is even less a reason for restraint than when the protests were at their peak and Western voices were the strongest. Given the massive decline in China’s exports, Hong Kong’s special trade status is a minor factor.
• Fear of the virus and the stricter police restrictions will prevent large-scale demonstrations and no mass protests of the crackdown are likely. But as the virus gradually comes under control, this window of opportunity is closing. 

Crushing the dissent in Hong Kong is more necessary to Xi’s rule now than before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The Wuhan outbreak exposed the bankruptcy of CCP rule. Xi finds himself facing unprecedented criticism, anger and, ever more bold, ridicule. In several public relations humiliations, he has met resistance from outside and within the party. The CCP’s propaganda and control could unravel under withering criticism from such prominent figures as Li Wenliang, the doctor who first raised alarms about the virus, Tsinghua University professor Xu Zhangrui, civil rights lawyer and activist Xu Zhiyong, Peking University professor He Weifang, journalist Chen Qiushi, Wuhan-based author Fang Fang , Ai Fen, director of the emergency department of Wuhan Central Hospital, retired scholar Zhao Shilin, netizen Ren Zhiqiang and others.    [FULL  STORY]