Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T19:10:56.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Mandating Symbolic Patriotism: China’s Flag and Anthem in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2021

Brendan Clift*
Affiliation:
Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne

Abstract

The Hong Kong statute criminalizing disrespect of the Chinese national anthem, passed in 2020, is one of many recent moves to suppress political dissent in the former British colony. The law restricts freedom of political expression, but its constitutionality is practically assured courtesy of earlier decisions upholding laws against flag desecration. This article draws on sociological and political literature to argue that symbolic nationalism, particularly when given the force of law, is a tool of the authoritarian state. Against this backdrop, it critically and comparatively analyses Hong Kong judicial decisions upholding the suppression of symbolic dissent, assessing their doctrinal coherence, normative defensibility, and consequences. It concludes with observations on the efficacy of attempts to enforce patriotic orthodoxy and on how deference to authoritarianism affects the rule of law.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Asian Journal of Law and Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abeyratne, Rehan (2020) “More Structure, More Deference: Proportionality in Hong Kong,” in Po Jen Yap, ed., Proportionality in Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Benedict (2006) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, revised edn, London: Verso.Google Scholar
Barendt, Eric (2005) Freedom of Speech, 2nd edn, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Breuilly, John (1993) Nationalism and the State, 2nd edn, Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Bruce, Andrew (2000) “Speech by Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions,” http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200004/28/0427193.htm (accessed 9 January 2020).Google Scholar
Buddle, Cliff (1999) “NPC Role in Flag Case Floated,” South China Morning Post, 22 October.Google Scholar
But, Joshua, & Tony, Cheung (2018) “Hong Kong Chief Executive Urges People Not to Wave Colonial Flag,” South China Morning Post, 12 June.Google Scholar
Chan, Cora (2010) “Judicial Deference at Work: Some Reflections on Chan Kin Sum and Kong Yun Ming.” 40 Hong Kong Law Journal 114.Google Scholar
Chan, Johannes (2007) “Basic Law and Constitutional Review: The First Decade.” 37 Hong Kong Law Journal 407–47.Google Scholar
Chan, Kin-wa, & Shirley, Zhao (2017) “Hong Kong Soccer Fans Jeer National Anthem Despite Tough New Laws,” South China Morning Post, 9 November.Google Scholar
Chan, Thomas (2018) “Diaoyu Islands Activist ‘Proudly’ Jailed for Flag Burning,” South China Morning Post, 14 June.Google Scholar
Chen, Albert H. Y. (2006) “Constitutional Adjudication in Post-1997 Hong Kong.” 3 Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 627–82.Google Scholar
Cheung, Karen (2017) “Civic Passion Lawmaker Cheng Chung-Tai Found Guilty of ‘Desecrating’ Flags during Legislative Session,” Hong Kong Free Press, 29 September.Google Scholar
Cheung, Karen (2018a) “Hong Kong’s Proposed National Anthem Law Deviates from Common Law Norms, Says Legal Scholar,” Hong Kong Free Press, 19 March.Google Scholar
Cheung, Karen (2018b) “Lawmaker Cheng Chung-Tai Keeps His Seat after Legislature Votes on Flag-Flipping Incident,” Hong Kong Free Press, 17 May.Google Scholar
Clift, Brendan (2020) “Hong Kong’s Made-in-China National Security Law: Upending the Legal Order for the Sake of Law and Order.” 21 Australian Journal of Asian Law 1–23.Google Scholar
Comaroff, John L. (2001) “Colonialism, Culture, and the Law: A Foreword.” 26 Law & Social Inquiry 305–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douzinas, Costas (2000) “The Legality of the Image.” 63 Modern Law Review 813–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland (2007) “Some Questions about Flags,” in Eriksen, Thomas Hylland & Jenkins, Richard, eds., Flag, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America, London: Routledge, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feinberg, Joel (1984) The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fong, Brian C. H. (2017) “One Country, Two Nationalisms: Center-Periphery Relations between Mainland China and Hong Kong, 1997–2016.” 43 Modern China 523–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, Steve (2002) “Human Rights: Flag Desecration, National Insult and Peaceful Protest.” Coventry Law Journal 50–2. Google Scholar
Geddis, Andrew (2011) “Flag Burning, Offensive Behaviour and the Right to Protest in New Zealand.” 22 Public Law Review 163–8.Google Scholar
Geisler, Michael E. (2005) “Preface,” in Geisler, Michael E., ed., National Symbols, Fractured Identities: Contesting the National Narrative, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, ixxii.Google Scholar
Goldsworthy, Jeffrey (2014) “Kable, Kirk and Judicial Statesmanship.” 40 Monash University Law Review 75114.Google Scholar
Haas, Benjamin (2017) “Defiant Hong Kong Football Fans Boo China’s National Anthem,” The Guardian, 9 November.Google Scholar
Hayes, Carlton J. H. (1960) Nationalism: A Religion, New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, E. J. (1990) Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kielsgard, Mark D. (2011) “Universalism and Human Rights in the 21st Century.” 19 Asia Pacific Law Review 155–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kolstø, Pål (2006) “National Symbols as Signs of Unity and Division.” 29 Ethnic and Racial Studies 676701.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leung, Hillary (2019) “Listen to the Song That Hong Kong’s Youthful Protesters Are Calling Their ‘National Anthem’,” Time, 10 September.Google Scholar
Lim, Louisa (2014) The People’s Republic of Amnesia: The Legacy of Tiananmen Square, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lo, P. Y. (2014) The Judicial Construction of Hong Kong’s Basic Law: Courts, Politics and Society after 1997, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.Google Scholar
Loewy, Arnold H. (1989) “The Flag-Burning Case: Freedom of Speech When We Need It Most.” 68 North Carolina Law Review 165–75.Google Scholar
Lum, Alvin (2018) “‘Foreword to City’s National Anthem Law Will Promote Patriotic Spirit’,” South China Morning Post, 23 March.Google Scholar
Moustafa, Tamir, & Tom, Ginsburg (2008) “Introduction: The Functions of Courts in Authoritarian Politics,” in Ginsburg, Tom & Moustafa, Tamir, eds., Rule by Law: The Politics of Courts in Authoritarian Regimes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 122.Google Scholar
Ng, Kang-chung (2017) “‘Pity’ that Beijing Interpreted Basic Law during Oath Saga,” South China Morning Post, |27 October.Google Scholar
Poon, Patrick (2002) “Court Shown Flag Confession,” South China Morning Post, 7 March.Google Scholar
Rapkin, David P., & Braaten, Dan (2009) “Conceptualising Hegemonic Legitimacy.” 35 Review of International Studies 113–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RTHK (2017) “Lawmaker Cheng Chung-Tai Fined over Flag Stunt,” Radio Television Hong Kong, 29 September.Google Scholar
RTHK (2019) “CY Leung Offers Reward over Flag Thrown in Sea,” Radio Television Hong Kong, 3 August.Google Scholar
SCMP (2001) “Activists Deny Desecrating HK Flag,” South China Morning Post, 14 December.Google Scholar
Shapiro, Martin (2008) “Courts in Authoritarian Regimes,” in Ginsburg, Tom and Moustafa, Tamir, eds., Rule by Law: The Politics of Courts in Authoritarian Regimes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 326–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Anthony D. (1991) National Identity, London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Snyder, Timothy (2017) On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, London: The Bodley Head.Google Scholar
Tai, Benny (2002) “Chapter One of Hong Kong’s New Constitution: Constitutional Positioning and Repositioning,” in Ming, Chan & So, Alvin Y, eds., Crisis and Transformation in China’s Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press & ME Sharpe, 189219.Google Scholar
Tai, Benny Y. T. (2007) “Basic Law, Basic Politics: The Constitutional Game of Hong Kong.” 37 Hong Kong Law Journal 503–78.Google Scholar
Tong, Elson (2017) “Veteran Pro-Democracy Activist Koo Sze-Yiu Arrested Again for Alleged Flag Desecration,” Hong Kong Free Press, 29 December.Google Scholar
Wacks, Raymond (2000) “Our Flagging Rights.” 30 Hong Kong Law Journal 15.Google Scholar
Waldron, Jeremy (2012) The Harm in Hate Speech, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weitman, Sasha R. (1973) “National Flags: A Sociological Overview.” 8 Semiotica 328–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welch, Michael (2000) Flag Burning: Moral Panic and the Criminalization of Protest, New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Wu, Venus (2017) “Hong Kong Youths Turn Their Backs on Chinese Identity: Survey,” Reuters, 20 June.Google Scholar
Xu, Vicky Xiuzhong, & Xiaoning, Mo (2018) “Hong Kong Student Slammed by Chinese Press for Saying the National Anthem Makes Her ‘Vomit’,” ABC News, 9 May.Google Scholar
Yap, Po Jen (2007) “Constitutional Review under the Basic Law: The Rise, Retreat and Resurgence of Judicial Power in Hong Kong.” 37 Hong Kong Law Journal 449–74.Google Scholar
Yap, Po Jen (2014) “A Typography of Constitutional Arguments in Hong Kong.” 44 Hong Kong Law Journal 459–82.Google Scholar
Yap, Po Jen (2015) “Freedom of Expression,” in Chan, Johannes & C. Lim, L., eds., Law of the Hong Kong Constitution, 2nd edn, Hong Kong: Sweet & Maxwell Asia, 733–56.Google Scholar
Zikmund, Joseph (2008) “National Anthems as Political Symbols.” 15 Australian Journal of Politics and History 7380.Google Scholar