On 30 June 2020, the Chinese language authorities imposed a sweeping Nationwide Safety Regulation (NSL) in Hong Kong, successfully ending town’s autonomy. The legislation, launched after months of protests, severely curtailed freedoms assured beneath the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration—the worldwide treaty that laid the groundwork for Hong Kong’s post-handover governance. By arresting pro-democracy activists, disqualifying elected legislators, and redesigning the electoral system to permit solely “patriots” to control, Beijing violated its treaty commitments. In response, the UK launched the British Nationwide (Abroad) visa scheme in 2021, providing Hongkongers a pathway to settlement and citizenship. Over 163,000 individuals have already relocated to Britain, with as many as 5.4 million probably eligible. Whereas this measure presents an escape route, it leaves a deeper constitutional query unresolved: what turns into of Hong Kong’ s proper to democratic self-governance beneath the Joint Declaration?
A rising motion is rising to deal with this hole. A gaggle of exiled activists calling themselves the Hong Kong Parliament has just lately held its first international election by way of a cellular voting app. The organisation behind the election, fashioned in Canada, positions itself as a nonpartisan initiative led by the Hong Kong diaspora. The undertaking goals to signify Hongkongers compelled into exile following China’s crackdown. As former lawmaker-elect Baggio Leung defined to the South China Morning Put up, the initiative was impressed by the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, which has operated from Dharamshala, India, since 1960 with land and recognition granted by the Indian authorities. Although largely symbolic at this stage, the election marks a daring step towards political continuity in exile. The Tibetan precedent is essential. The Central Tibetan Administration, whereas not formally recognised as a sovereign authorities, nonetheless maintains a functioning cupboard, parliament, faculty system, and diplomatic presence overseas. For Hongkongers dealing with political persecution, this mannequin presents a potential template for democratic continuity past the attain of totalitarianism.
However not like the Tibetan case, the UK holds a singular duty as a signatory to the Sino-British Joint Declaration. If Hongkongers are actually making an attempt to construct an exiled democratic establishment in response to China’s breach of that treaty, then the UK’s silence dangers undermining the hassle’s legitimacy. Given the UK’s historical past in internet hosting exiled governments, help from the UK wouldn’t solely bolster the Parliament’s credibility but in addition reaffirm Britain’s personal standing as a treaty-bound guarantor of Hong Kong’s promised autonomy.
But the exiled parliament initiative at the moment exists solely in our on-line world. With out territory, a government-in-exile lacks the institutional authority to difficulty identification paperwork, present providers, protect tradition, or construct political legitimacy. For that reason, some throughout the diaspora, amongst them financial theorists and entrepreneurs, are actually calling for an additional step: securing land within the UK to determine a Hong Kong Crown Dependency or constitution metropolis. This concept, typically known as “Hong Kong 2.0”, was popularised by economist Sam Bowman, who proposed making a constitution metropolis within the UK ruled by separate authorized and regulatory establishments. Bowman’s imaginative and prescient builds on Nobel laureate Paul Romer’s concept of constitution cities, which argues that governance—not geography—is the important thing to financial improvement. The success of the unique Hong Kong, Romer claims, stemmed from its standing as a jurisdiction ruled by British non-interventionist financial insurance policies, in distinction to the deliberate financial system of mainland China.
Romer’s concept, nevertheless, focuses largely on economics, overlooking the distinctive political circumstances through which constitution cities would possibly come up. He attracts on Hong Kong as a mannequin, crediting its success to delegated governance. Romer’s concept displays China’s narrative that it “allowed” British administration of Hong Kong whereas sustaining its declare over the territory. But the very instance Romer depends on was solely potential due to geopolitical contingency and contested sovereignty. Hong Kong’s prosperity was not solely the product of institutional design however emerged from a fragile historic second formed by British colonial coverage, China’s strategic restraint, and enduring ambiguity over sovereignty.
Regardless of its formal standing as a Crown colony, and later a British Dependent Territory, Deng famously promoted a “authorized fiction”, claiming Hong Kong was by no means a colony however merely “occupied”. This narrative laid the groundwork for Beijing’s revisionism at present, together with textbook modifications that deny Hong Kong’s colonial previous. Because the 1997 handover to Chinese language sovereignty, town has skilled financial decline, whereas ideological management has develop into central to Beijing’s playbook. Beijing’s hegemony highlights the bounds of Romer’s apolitical framing, which treats institutional design as separate from questions of sovereignty, legitimacy, and beliefs. In Hong Kong’s case, the success Romer admires was inseparable from the political ambiguity that enabled it—an ambiguity that has since been eradicated beneath totalitarian consolidation.
Immediately’s BN(O) diaspora will not be merely searching for alternative, however fleeing ideological persecution. Their state of affairs mirrors the exodus of Chinese language refugees to British Hong Kong within the mid-twentieth century—individuals who escaped Communist rule looking for freedom, the rule of legislation, and the promise of democracy. Earlier than the 1997 handover, Hong Kong had developed right into a semi-democratic polity with a absolutely elected legislature. That democratic progress was abruptly reversed when the incoming Chinese language regime changed the legislature with an appointed “provisional” physique, itself fashioned in exile from mainland China. Regardless of escalating repression, the political will amongst Hongkongers to elect a reliable authorities stays alive and resurfaces now within the diaspora.
A constitution metropolis or Crown Dependency constructed for Hongkongers within the British Isles may due to this fact provide extra than simply financial house. It may restore a misplaced promise of democratic governance. Entrepreneur Ivan Ko, founding father of the Victoria Harbor Group, has already partnered with Thames Freeport to develop a possible mannequin for Hong Kong-style city progress within the UK. Although at the moment targeted on enterprise collaboration, Ko’s undertaking highlights the urge for food for a bodily, autonomous house the place Hongkongers can thrive. Crown Dependencies corresponding to Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man get pleasure from excessive levels of political autonomy whereas remaining beneath British sovereignty. The same association may serve symbolic and strategic capabilities, providing a type of political restitution for what many see as Britain’s abdication of duty and offering an institutional base for a functioning government-in-exile.
The newly elected Hong Kong Parliament may evolve into such a authorities, probably partnering with initiatives just like the Victoria Harbor Group to foyer the British authorities for territorial autonomy. This may enable the exiled physique not solely to organise and advocate, however to control. Formal recognition will not be a prerequisite, as proven by the Tibetan case. What issues is political and materials help from host governments. Britain, having opened its doorways by way of the BN(O) pathway to British citizenship, now has a chance to go additional. Supporting the creation of a functioning Hong Kong Crown Dependency, primarily based on democratic rules and constructed on British soil, would affirm the UK’s dedication to worldwide legislation, liberal values, and its historic duties to Hongkongers. It might additionally problem China’s contested claims of unbroken sovereignty over town.
Because the Tibetan expertise reveals, exile doesn’t imply political extinction. For Hongkongers, it may imply rebirth. A UK-backed Crown Dependency or constitution metropolis would start as a symbolic repudiation of totalitarianism. Nevertheless, it wants not stay symbolic. With credible authorized protections, monetary infrastructure, and political help, it may entice actual capital and expertise, particularly from these already disillusioned with Beijing’s tightening grip. If Hong Kong’s exiled residents, household workplaces, and even tycoons redirect their capital right into a free, globally built-in different, the end result could be a shift not solely in sentiment, however in energy.
Such a undertaking wouldn’t problem Beijing by way of direct confrontation, however by way of exit, each the bodily departure of individuals and the monetary withdrawal of capital. It might erode the CCP’s financial leverage by making a parallel Hong Kong—one which upholds the rule of legislation, democratic values, and worldwide belief. The slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Occasions” might but echo once more not within the streets, however within the regular development of freedom’s sanctuary overseas. This isn’t merely a symbolic counterweight to the Belt and Highway. It’s a strategic different, positioned to protect Hong Kong’s legacy and assist form a post-CCP future.
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