The US National Catholic Register has a piece on Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Bishop of Hong Kong…
“Beijing wants to keep religious freedom intact in Hong Kong, because Hong Kong is important for China,” the cardinal contended, according to a report in the Sydney diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Weekly. He also said the secret provisional agreement between Beijing and the Holy See on the appointment of bishops is highly complex, and that observers should not force facts into a “dualistic paradigm.”
China has many voices, he continued, and its government takes the Catholic Church seriously, tries to understand it, and is very well informed. He appealed to those present to recognize that Communists are human, that they “yearn for love” and “yearn for respect,” even if he said he himself did “not quite agree” with their atheistic ideology.
The cardinal also played down the suffering that his outspoken predecessor, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, has experienced at the hands of the Hong Kong authorities…
…Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, said Cardinal Chow’s assertion that China wants to keep religious freedom intact in Hong Kong because the territory is important to it was “laughable.”
…“The walls are closing in on the Church in Hong Kong more slowly than they are in China, but they are closing nonetheless,” he said.
Nina Shea, senior fellow and director of the Center for Religious Freedom at Hudson Institute, said that, like Cardinal Zen, Cardinal Chow is also not free to criticize the CCP, “so everything he says about the party’s policies and actions must be taken with a grain of salt.”
Pointing out that neither Cardinal Zen nor anyone else dares speak about the persecution against [Jimmy] Lai, Shea said they also cannot protest against the ongoing persecution of bishops and priests in mainland China. “Beijing’s media outlet in Hong Kong threatened to shut down Catholic schools in Hong Kong if Zen and the other Church leaders did not submit to CCP dictates,” Shea noted. “They are effectively hostage to these threats.”
The US State Department releases its 2025 Investment Climate Statements, including one on Hong Kong. It’s fairly mild…
Beijing’s imposition of the National Security Law (NSL) on June 30, 2020, introduced heightened uncertainties for companies operating in Hong Kong. On March 23, 2024, the Hong Kong government enacted the SNSO, a new national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law. During public consultations on the proposed law, some legal and business groups raised concern that proposed legislative text was overly broad and could be arbitrarily enforced — especially related to provisions about “protecting state secrets,” “external interference,” and potential extraterritorial application – which could increase economic risk and general uncertainty about Hong Kong’s investment climate and potentially inhibit regular business activities and travel. The legal uncertainties and business risks have become a factor for corporations with operations in Hong Kong and those considering investments in the territory.
The Hong Kong government issues an angry press release…
…the Report continues to maliciously smear and make unfounded and false accusations against the Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL) and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO). For this, the HKSAR Government expresses strong discontent and firm opposition.
Yeah… I’m afraid the old “Beijing wants to keep [insert non-CCP-compatible value] intact in Hong Kong, because Hong Kong is important for China” ship set sail five years ago, hit an national security iceberg and sank with all hands on board, Cardi C.
Start again; think carefully.
There’s a thin line between “blind faith” and just “blind”.