The contrast between joyful, buzzy Hong Kong, and its absurdly grim image overseas is startling – especially in the light of the brutal restrictions on free speech emerging in numerous western countries. Richard Cullen reports.
THE RUGBY SEVENS, a combined sports tournament and a huge international party, is underway in front of massive crowds at the new Kai Tak Arena in Hong Kong as I began to write this.
Meanwhile, governments in Australia, Canada, the US and UK, for example, are still posting amber Travel Advisories related to Hong Kong, stressing the need to exercise a “high degree of caution due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws“.
These warnings are less stark than they were several years ago, when they hinted innocent Western visitors to the now grim, communist-shaped SAR might be swiftly whisked away to face a Beijing court prior to being relocated to some sinister Sino-Gulag in the west of China.
A constant and rapidly growing stream of Western visitors to both China and Hong Kong put the sword to that over-cooked, spooky narrative by coming, enjoying, and delivering a multiplying stream of positive, personal You-tube rebuttals (see: https://www.chinadailyhk.com/hk/article/598656).
It is plain that old Sevens visitors to this year’s event and new international visitors are singularly delighted to be back. The new Kai Tak stadium is exceptionally good, the food and hospitality are as marvelous as ever, the public transport continuously exceeds expectations and the Weather Gods have been kind. Even following the event on TV, you can feel the splendid positive energy.
Then there is so much to see, generally. Hong Kong’s exceptional, tropical location where countless skyscrapers, extensive mountainous green areas surrounded by harbours, inlets and the South China Sea all work together in this amazing city to deliver vistas found in no other major global metropolis.
Moreover, you can even find ways to enjoy very civilized, high density, urban living minus the super-bustling crowds and those Hong Kong drivers who normally consider all pedestrians a baffling menace forever impeding their progress.
The huge South Horizons residential suburb on Ap Lei Chau is a treat to walk around at any time of the year (apart from mid-typhoon). The footpaths are wide and the sea breezes and views are impressive as are the gardens. Miraculously, it is also one place in Hong Kong where virtually all drivers stop at pedestrian crossings – and drive without rushing. Plus, it now has its own MTR line.
COMPARE WITH ANGLO-JURISDICTIONS
Finally, it is useful to mention how some of the Anglo-jurisdictions noted above naturally avoid stressing to inward visitors to their countries that they need to be far more careful today about speaking out politically due to new sweeping restrictions on what is acceptable expression. And please be very cautious, visitors, about the greatly enlarged scope to proscribe demonstrations, where participation is made illegal.
Ruinous government reactions to the horrific Gaza Genocide most explain this grimly, elevated level of expression suppression. That genocide generated massive levels of protest across these jurisdictions. This particularly infuriated highly influential supporters of Israel. – and Global West governments responded around the world to curtail demonstration rights.
In the UK, the High Court recently ruled that the government’s most extreme ban, classifying the campaign group Palestine Action as a “terror group”, was unlawful and disproportionate. However, the government immediately advised that it would appeal this decision (see: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/13/uk-decision-to-ban-palestine-action-as-terror-group-unlawful-court-says).
In NSW, in Australia, the State Government became determined to act to clamp down on demonstrations after a huge pro-Palestinian march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge (see: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clydnvw1dg5o).
More recently, not one but two oppressive new legal restrictions applied to political expression have been struck down by the courts. The Premier of NSW said, directly afterwards, that, regardless of the result: “He still planned to outlaw the contested phrase globalise the intifada but was looking to how a ban in Queensland played out” (see: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/apr/16/nsws-highest-court-strikes-down-anti-protest-law-introduced-in-wake-of-bondi-beach-terror-attack-ntwnfb).
In the US, the crushing of free expression related to Gaza protests was well underway during Biden Administration, but this rush to suppress has been brutally widened and accelerated since President Trump began his second term in office in January 2025 (see: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/30/trump-crackdown-free-speech).
JUST LOOK AT THE FACTS
So, is Hong Kong, today, more measurably spooky than fundamentally engaging – especially compared to certain locations long habituated to advising Hong Kong about political morality?
The outstanding philosopher, Betrand Russell offers some guidance on how one might respond to this enquiry:
When you are studying any matter or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only: what are the facts, and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted by what you wish to believe, but look only and surely at what are the facts.
Winston Churchill, more briefly, emphasizes that one should:
Look at the facts, because they look at you.
Richard Cullen is an adjunct law professor at the University of Hong Kong and a popular writer on current affairs.
To see a list of articles he has written for this outlet, click this phrase.
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Picture at the top by Hong Kong Rugby Sevens.