Freedom Undone The Assault on Liberal Values and Institutions in Hong Kong by Michael C. Davis

 Imagine that you live in a freedom-loving, liberal city, one of the important centres of the business world and then you find yourself in a repressive, totalitarian regime. This has, unfortunately, been what has happened to Hong Kong. China promised that Hong Kong and China would be’one country, two systems,’ maintaining important freedoms when the handover occurred in 1997. As Michael C. Davis writes, it has failed to keep these promises, becoming more and more repressive and hollowing out democratic institutions, such as the courts and the media. Finally, the National Security Law was introduced in the ultimate crackdown, making people scared to oppose the regime in the face of stiff penalties and seeing an unsurprising exodus of people fleeing the city for democratic countries. This is bad for business and tourism as well. The ‘glittering city’ has gone silent. I have visited Hong Kong in the past and liked it so I find this an incredibly sad story. In fact, I was there about eight years before the handover and many of the people were trying to leave. They knew what could happen!

This is an excellent forensic examination of how freedoms can be taken away, unless we guard them. ‘The price of freedom is eternal vigilence,’as Thomas Jefferson so wisely stated.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.