Today is the 4th of July. It's the day Americans celebrate the anniversary of a collection of mostly young men who issued a declaration to the world that they would no longer be part of the Empire of their birth. It's widely regarded as a celebration of the rights we enjoy, rights which are enshrined in our Constitution -never mind that the Constitution wasn't ratified until 13 years after the Declaration of Independence- but in reality, it is more about a simpler right: one that is not mentioned in the Bill of Rights because it was considered so glaringly obvious that the writers of the Declaration of Independence considered it "self-evident." That is the right not of an individual but of a population to determine their own national identity
As for me, I am unabashedly and undeniably an American citizen. I was one the day I was born, and I will be one the day I die. However, my residence (for the unfortunate moment) is in Beijing, the capital city of a barbaric empire which laughably styles itself the "People's Republic:" China. As such, on this day when the American People's Representatives first stood up and said "from this day forth, we shall be a nation," I cannot help but reflect on the power within these words of the Declaration, and find myself wondering how the Party would tremble if these words, translated into Mandarin, Cantonese, Uighur or Tibetan, were distributed around China.
Why？
Because it seems to me that there are untold millions around the periphery of this country who would hear their own story within these words.
Admittedly, this article will not contain the usual amount of citations ad sources, and for that I do apologize, but there simply has not been time today to look up the sources for everything I am saying herein. Perhaps in the week while this article can still be edited, I will have time to do so. And so, let me begin with the beginning of the Declaration of Independence.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
For a nation as loosely held together as the PRC, with peripheral regions that have centuries of non-Chinese history and strong independence movements today (such as Tibet and Xinjiang), and a rising independence movement in Hong Kong, this already speaks volumes The very statement of "dissolving the political bands that have connected them" and assuming the "separate and equal station" of independent, sovereign nations terrifies Beijing so much that entire volumes are written to deny that the thought is eve conceivable. Insistences that Tibet, Xinjiang, Taiwan and Hong Kong are "ancient and inalienable" parts of China are so prolific that it is difficult to imagine a Chinese political speech without them.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
This too, would bring the average Tibetan, or any Uighur living under constant surveillance (including having government employees assigned to live in their homes, without their consent, to spy on their behavior and determine if it is "Chinese enough").
And of course, let us consider the current situation in Hong Kong.
For those who do not follow, Hong Kong has a special status within China, commonly referred to as "One Country, Two Systems." Essentially, it holds similar status to what the British Empire would have called a "Self-Governing Dominion:" It's part of China for the purposes of war and tax, but in all other regards Hong Kong runs its own affairs. This is guaranteed until 2047 by the Treaty wherein the UK handed HK to the PRC (which was referred to as a "return," though many Hong Kongers deny that they could ever be "returned" to a country that had never been theirs, since Hong Kong was given to Britain during the Qing Dynasty). However, that autonomy has been under attack by constant nibbles from Beijing almost since the 1997 handover, and the latest round of protest from Hong Kongers centers around a bill which would, in essence, give Beijing complete and unchecked power to arrest Hong Kong residents at will and remand them to Mainland prisons, subject to the Mainland's judicial system (where "trials" and "evidence" aren't exactly a thing).
The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
The Declaration goes on to list the offenses committed by King George III against the Colonies, and it is interesting to examine this list of offenses and consider which of these accusations could be levied against the Party (or Xi in particular) by Tibet, Xinjiang or Hong Kong.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang all three could claim this.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
Hong Kong would have a difficult time accusing Beijing of this (so far), but Tibet and Xinjiang both could, and it should also be noted that all judges in China are required to be members of the Party.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
The barracks and command center of the PLA Garrison in Hong Kong
Both of these sound like they came straight out of a blog in any of the three regions I've mentioned. Indeed, very few images of China's cruelty are more striking than the ritual to which citizens of Lhasa, Tibet's capital, are subjected every day: the highly public and ceremonial raising of the Chinese flag in front of the Potala Palace. It is a daily, flagrant reminder of an entire culture being denied not only their right to maintain their way of life but to even maintain their own identity, as a foreign occupier's flag is raised in the very heart of their cradle of civilization, and any among them who do not applaud it are arrested.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
This is the case in EVERY "autonomous ethnic community" in China, from the big ones like Tibet and Xinjiang, down to the city and township-sized reservations for China's non-Han minorities. These are non-Chinese, who have been invaded and occupied by China, then denied what few right the Party-State gives to its own repressed citizens.
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
I think these two have already been addressed.
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.
These two should make any Hong Konger's skin crawl, given that they are precisely the crux of the protests over the extradition bill: It gives Beijing the power to arrest anyone in Hong Kong, carry them to the Mainland, and subject them to the Mainland's judicial system, wherein there is no guarantee of trial, legal counsel, or eve of knowing what you are charged with, nor is the accused permitted to present evidence in their defense (for whatever good it would do in a system where judges are punished for not ruling according to the wishes of the State).
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
This sounds like Taiwan's perception of the situation in Hong Kong right now.
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
All of China's ethnic minority regions could claim to have suffered this at China's hands, especially Tibet and Xinjiang.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
If I were a Taiwanese president and wanted to finally make the island's independence official, these two would be the first verbal javelins I would hurl at Xi Jinping, though it is also worthy of note that the Philippines and Vietnam, never subject to China's jurisdiction, could accurately claim the latter.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
Here's one that Hong Kong and Taiwan both could levy at Beijing, given the repeated threats to turn Hong Kong into another Tiananmen, as well as the Party's constant saber rattling at Taiwan.
Now then, let us examine the two final paragraphs, changing only the national titles to reflect the Sinosphere today.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our [Chinese] brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the [nations of Taiwan, Tibet and Turkestan, and the Island of Hong Kong], in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these [nations], solemnly publish and declare, That these [Nations] are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the [People's Republic of China] and that all political connection between them and the State of [China], is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
No doubt, China would call them "traitors," and swear it was "treason" to say this, but then again, the British said the same things about the Founding Fathers for their declaration.
What's happening in Hong Kong right now, may well be regarded by future historians as the Bunker Hill of the East.