Asia’s Walled City: The Erosion of Transparency in Hong Kong
Amid national security crackdown, government transparency is suffering
By: Samuel Bickett
As Hong Kong increasingly aligns with Mainland China’s governance model, its long-held reputation as an open and corruption-free city—a cornerstone of its economic and civic success—is unraveling. In recent years, drastic curtailments in freedom of speech and civil rights have been widely discussed. Less attention, however, has been paid to how the city’s national security crackdown is eroding government transparency and access to official information. These attributes, and the “clean” reputation they fostered, have been essential to Hong Kong’s success as a financial hub, attracting global business reliant on accountability and the rule of law.
As the city backslides on human rights and democracy, government transparency is also under siege. In my latest report, published by the International Republican Institute I examine the ongoing crackdown’s effects on transparency and access to information in Hong Kong. This year-long project involved extensive research, interviews with journalists and other stakeholders, and experimental testing of Hong Kong’s freedom of information framework, known as the Code on Access to Information.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, my work revealed a culture increasingly marked by secrecy and hostility toward open information. While some areas of government—such as the judiciary—have maintained relatively better access, the combined effects of national security laws, informal policy shifts, and a chilling crackdown on the media and public have made it far more challenging to obtain reliable data or scrutinize government activities…