The “One Country, Two Systems” arrangement under which China promised Hong Kong autonomy and civic freedoms was meant to tempt self-ruling Taiwan to reunify with China one day.
But diverging legal battles over free speech and the protection of national symbols in Hong Kong and Taiwan highlight the growing gap between the two territories, with Beijing exporting its draconian laws to Hong Kong while Taiwan rolls back the vestiges of its authoritarian legacy.
Hong Kong’s Beijing-appointed government is drawing up local legislation to implement a new Chinese law that criminalises disrespect for the national anthem, designed in part to counter persistent jeering of “March of the Volunteers” during Hong Kong’s international football matches.