Episode #79 | China as Democracy Falls in Hong Kong (Olivia Enos)

Foreign Policy ProvCast

Olivia Enos of the Heritage Foundation speaks with Mark Melton about how the Chinese government has been snuffing out liberty in Hong Kong. She discusses the recent arrests of Cardinal Zen and pro-democracy advocates and explains what they mean for religious liberty in the city-state. She also analyzes the Vatican’s deal with the Chinese Communist Party and warns the Catholic Church against improving relations with the Beijing regime. Enos wrote an article for Providence making the case that the United States government should give Hong Kong refugees “Priority-2 Status,” so she explains what this means, why it is necessary, and how the Biden administration could make this change immediately. After traveling to Europe, Enos noticed how European governments were not taking the China threat seriously as both Republicans and Democrats in America do. So she discussed the dangers of Europe being too lax on the CCP and does not take the US warnings seriously. Even though there is bipartisan consensus that China is a threat to US foreign policy interests, she explains how the Biden administration's approach to Beijing has been mixed. Uighurs still face unprecedented persecution in China, and last fall Congress passed the Uighur Forced Labor Prevention Act—which Christine McDaniel and Weifeng Zhong discussed on the Foreign Policy ProvCast in February. As part of the process to implement that Act, Congress has been listening to public comments, including from Enos. She explains where this Act stands today and other developments with the Uighur genocide. Here are some of the mentioned articles, reports, and podcasts: “The Latest Arrests of Pro-Democracy Leaders in Hong Kong Lend Urgency to Extending Refugee Status to Persecuted Hong Kongers,” by Olivia Enos in Providence: https://providencemag.com/2022/05/latest-arrests-pro-democracy-leaders-hong-kong-lend-urgency-extending-refugee-status-to-persecuted-hong-kongers-cardinal-joseph-zen/ “Will Europe Ignore U.S. Warnings About China Like They Ignored Warnings of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine?” by Olivia Enos in Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/windriver/2022/05/06/the-art-of-defense-mitigating-cyber-exposure-with-threat-modeling/?sh=48be56cc4b15 Foreign Policy ProvCast, Ep. 74 | America’s New Law on Forced Labor in Xinjiang, featuring Christine McDaniel and Weifeng Zhong in Providence: https://providencemag.com/podcast/foreign-policy-provcast-ep-74-americas-new-law-on-forced-labor-in-xinjiang/ “The Battle for China’s Spirit,” by Sarah Cook in FreedomHouse: https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2020-02/FH_ChinasSprit2016_FULL_FINAL_140pages.pdf “Uyghur County in China Has Highest Prison Rate in World,” by Huizhong Wu and Dake Kang in Associated Press: https://apnews.com/article/china-prisons-uyghurs-religion-0dd1a31f9be29d32c584543af4698955