Over the past few years, the precipitous fall of Hong Kong seems to be a saga no one wants to stick around to see the ensuing episodes. Widespread censorship, crackdown on press and academic freedom, and backlash on dissenting voices are enforcing a total takeover of Beijing over the city. Xi Jinping is making clear that the special administrative region will not escape his dictatorial and authoritarian vision of government and the world. Nowhere is this repression more acute than in the Hong Kong universities that were pivotal in giving the city its internationally renowned intellectual and academic reputation. Since the passing of the infamous National Security Law in 2020, Chinese authorities seem undeterred to extinguish any opposing views, especially voices coming from academia, the media and civil society. Law schools, including faculty, students and libraries have been particularly targeted given their prominence, intellectual activity and social influence. Shamefully, HSBC and other financial institutions in Hong Kong have expressed their tacit consent to this new law, completely ignoring the impact on transparency, accountability and ethical considerations in international trade and finance. As the famous writer, Eileen Chang wrote in her renowned book, Little Reunions which takes place in Hong Kong and Shanghai, “The end of time, when seas dry up and rocks crumble, comes quick.”

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Hong Kong’s National Security Law Provisions and Latest Cases

About Marcelo Rodriguez

Marcelo Rodríguez works as the Foreign, Comparative and International Law Librarian at the University of Arizona Law School in Tucson, Arizona. Previously, he was the Research and Outreach Librarian at the U.S. Courts for the Second Circuit and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In the past, he has also worked at Columbia Law Library as well as in different capacities at the Central Library of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium; the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands; and the Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He is an active member of both the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL). Born in Puerto Rico, he speaks Spanish and French fluently as well as reading knowledge in Hebrew and German.