Hong Kongers showed striking determination over the weekend when they surged out onto the streets to defend their freedom. And they did it in the clearest way — by voting.

We call on the Trump administration and democratic governments across the world to pay heed to this courage. We believe it is not enough simply to applaud these agents for democracy. We must support them with increasing policy action.

Donning masks amid fears that a third coronavirus wave will ripple across the former British colony, these voters gave true meaning to Shakespeare's old adage that when the moment of consequence arrives, people must "stiffen the sinews" and "summon up the blood." The statistics attest to a successful summoning in this primary vote over final candidate voter lists for the September legislative elections. The voter turnout target of 170,000 was smashed three-and-a-half times over, with 613,000 total votes cast. Equally clear was the reason the surge had occurred: Pro-democracy "localists" were the clear winners, trouncing many pro-Beijing candidates and more moderate pro-democracy candidates alike.

Beijing had a rather unhappy reaction to this demonstration of freedom. Following the results, the Communist Party's resident Hong Kong puppet, Chief Executive Carrie Lam, warned voters that their exercise in liberty might represent unlawful subversion. If voters hope to fill the legislature with a voting bloc capable of "rejecting or resisting every policy initiative of the [Hong Kong] government," Lam said, "it may fall into the category of subverting the state power — one of the four types of [offenses] under the national security law."

This galling statement proves the disgraceful political immorality which underpins Lam, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the Chinese Communist Party.

Beijing has repeatedly and exhaustively insisted that its new national security law in Hong Kong is simply about preventing succession and terrorism. The unabashed speed with which Lam is now resorting to with its law to obstruct the basic act of voting exposes this as an obvious lie.

This law was never about security. It was only ever about subjecting Hong Kongers to Beijing's direct authority. Beijing evinced as much Monday by chargin high-profile city residents with incitement for attending a June 4 vigil to memorialize the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The message was clear: In Hong Kong today, attending a peaceful vigil to remember victims of Communist tyranny will see you subjected to the very same tyranny.

The world must act against this grave and growing injustice. And it must do so quickly, anticipating the great consequence of the September vote, should Lam and Xi succeed in suffocating the city's democracy. To offer only words and posturing in response to this tyranny is to ensure that Beijing continues it.

There's more at stake here for the world than the plight of Hong Kongers. How this struggle proceeds will flow directly into other Chinese challenges. If China can easily shred its legal obligations under the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a binding treaty requiring Beijing to respect Hong Kong's democratic rule of law until at least 2047, it will only find encouragement to pursue its other global ambitions more aggressively, including the theft of intellectual property, control of the South China Sea, and its denial of responsibility for the coronavirus pandemic.

The Trump administration should be raising the plight of Hong Kong on every possible occasion. President Trump should be tweeting and making speeches on why Hong Kong matters to people. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should be calling United Nations Security Council meetings and publicly calling on the European Union, Colombia, Brazil, and India to join American, British, and Australian actions to support Hong Kong citizens and to sanction Chinese officials involved in their oppression.

In its effort to impede Xi's authoritarian goals, the United States government should also be prepared to restrict American businesses from operating in Hong Kong, even if this will cause some short-term harm to Hong Kongers.

Seeing what an unrestrained Communist China means in Beijing, in Xinjiang Province, and in Hong Kong, there is little room left for doubts as to what it would mean for the rest of us.

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

Photo credit: skeeze at Pixabay