As Hong Kong's promised "One Country, Two Systems" model comes under attack by Beijing, the Chinese-American community in New York is growing increasingly concerned.
Sophia Ran, a recent high school graduate and New York native born to Hong Kong parents, is disappointed by Hong Kong's diminishing autonomy. "To say the least I am frustrated, which is not nearly a strong enough word. I feel really helpless, being halfway across the world not being able to do anything."
Justin Yu, president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association （CCBA）, a New York Chinatown business association and provider of services, spoke up against the recently passed National Security Law. "This law will have a very negative impact on the people in Hong Kong. I think they lost their chance to choose their own leader in the future, and it's very unclear what's going to happen to the people of Hong Kong."
Mr. Yu, who is Taiwanese-American, also believes that the National Security Law has encouraged the Taiwanese independence movement. "Beijing ruined my hope, my dream, for Taiwan's peaceful reunification with China," he said.
Mr. Yu, who is also a former president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in New York City, highlighted the law's impact on Chinese-language journalistic freedom worldwide. "I think the whole purpose of the National Security Law is to limit the freedom of speech. The Beijing government will use it to control the news media not only for Hong Kong, but for overseas Chinese in Europe, Australia, England, or even the United States."
Activists who support Hong Kong's freedoms are especially alarmed. Anna Cheung, a professor at Manhattanville College and founder of New Yorkers Supporting Hong Kong （NY4HK）, which supports Hong Kong democracy, said that the National Security Law has already caused concern and fear among her fellow Chinese-American activists. "If any one of us passes through a Hong Kong airport, we may be arrested for our rallies in New York," she said. "We are both very angry and a bit scared."
However, Ms. Cheung said the law will not silence overseas activists for Hong Kong. "We need to stand together. We will continue to support Hong Kong and we are not going to back down because of this National Security Law."
Chinese-Americans in New York tend to support peaceful protests for Hong Kong autonomy and representative government. Ms. Ran, who will attend Canada's McGill University in the fall, said that the protests were "truly inspiring." She said that "If I could go over there right now and do anything I could to help, I would, but I can't. So I support them and listen to them from the other side of the world," she said.
Mr. Yu says that the cause of Hong Kong is popular among both Chinese and non-Chinese New Yorkers. "The Hong Kong students have been well organized to express their opinions since last year. They are telling New York the threat that Hong Kong is facing," he said. "Conservative news media like the New York Post and liberal news media like the New York Times, they all support the Hong Kong people," he said.
However, some Chinese-Americans were troubled by violent tactics used by some Hong Kong protesters. "My perspective has changed over time," Kristen Yung, a Chinese-American high school student, said. "The fight for democracy has turned into something that inspires fear rather than freedom." The turning point for her views on the protests was watching a graphic video of a counter-protester being burned.
Veronica Leung, an immigrant from Hong Kong and a manager at Chinatown's popular Dim Sum GoGo restaurant, agreed that while the goals of the protesters are legitimate, violent tactics were not justified. "The protests are fine, but the way they protest I don't agree with. They are hurting businesses and bystanders," she said.
Other Chinese-Americans such as Ms. Ran, 18, are more sympathetic to violent protesters in Hong Kong. "When nothing else works, when peaceful protests don't work, when petitions and voices don't work, there are people that feel the need to get violent," she said.
Ms. Cheung, the professor and activist, believes that violence at protests was often caused by police actions. "The reality is that a lot of the time police start the violence with excessive force against protesters and journalists."
Mr. Yu, who was born in Chongqing in 1945, sees a divide in how some Chinese-Americans react to the Hong Kong protests based on age. He said that "the demands of Hong Kong people really echoed with the younger generation of Chinese people in this country. The older generations have their own way of thinking but have very little impact on the younger generation."
Others see a divide in the Chinese-American community based on whether one's family is from Hong Kong or mainland China. "I think there's an unspoken understanding that we're all here to start a new life. But there is also some underlying resentment or prejudice," Ms. Ran said.
Mr. Yu believes that Chinese-Americans in New York respect each other despite political divisions. "In the Chinatown community, people from different generations and different backgrounds have different opinions. But we all peacefully coexist."
However, this tolerance may be due to a culture of silence surrounding political issues that Mr. Yu described. "For the Chinese-Americans, because of our experience over the past 50 or 75 years, almost nobody is comfortable talking about politics," he said. "If you have a different opinion, I will be very reserved saying what I think."
One Chinese-American high school student whose parents are from Hong Kong preferred to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation from his mainland Chinese peers. He said, "We talk about [Hong Kong] issues a lot at home. It's not really a topic that we talk about with other people."
The atmosphere surrounding Hong Kong politics is so tense that Margaret Chin, Chinatown's City Council representative and a Hong Kong immigrant, refused to give any statement on the National Security Law or anything regarding Hong Kong affairs.
Ms. Ran is concerned that the American media and public have stopped focusing on Hong Kong due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent protests over police brutality in the U.S. "It's hard to focus on other countries when there's so much going on in your country as well," she said. "I don't hear anything about Hong Kong. I don't hear anything about other countries recently."
The activist Ms. Cheung believes Beijing used this lack of attention to foreign affairs to deflect attention from the National Security Law. "They are using COVID-19 as a cover to encroach on the freedom of Hong Kong."
However, Ms. Cheung said that American media outlets are still reporting Hong Kong developments closely. "Even in the American media, if you pay a little bit of attention, you will see reporting of the National Security Law is everywhere," she said. Mr. Yu agreed, calling the National Security Law "the biggest news in the world right now."
Mr. Yu and others in New York Chinese-American communities urged Hong Kong residents to be optimistic. "My message to people in Hong Kong is to keep hope. Right now it does not look good, but it is not the end of the world. And we will remember Hong Kong, Hong Kong will always be in our hearts," he said.
