The Lawfare Podcast: Hong Kong Erupts

Jen Patja, Benjamin Wittes, Sophia Yan, Alvin Y.H. Cheung
Wednesday, May 27, 2020, 12:00 PM
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Published by The Lawfare Institute
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Hong Kong protesters are out in the streets once again, as the Beijing legislature contemplates a new national security law for the city, and the Hong Kong legislature considers a bill to make it a crime to disrespect the Chinese national anthem. It's all going relatively unnoticed amidst the international focus on the coronavirus, but Hong Kong is increasingly under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party.


To discuss the latest developments, Benjamin Wittes spoke with Sophia Yan of The Daily Telegraph, and Alvin Cheung, originally from Hong Kong and currently a non-resident affiliated scholar at NYU's U.S.-Asia Law Institute. They talked about the details of what these laws would do, the way Beijing might use them to crack down on dissent and what the protesters hope to achieve in this latest round of street violence.


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Jen Patja

Jen Patja

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Jen Patja is the editor and producer of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.
Benjamin Wittes

Benjamin Wittes

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Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books.
Sophia Yan

Sophia Yan

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Sophia Yan is a foreign correspondent for the Telegraph, and has covered East Asia for more than a decade. She reports extensively on human rights, investigating China’s crackdown against ethnic minority groups, and unveiling human trafficking networks between China and the US.
Alvin Y.H. Cheung

Alvin Y.H. Cheung

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Alvin Y.H. Cheung is a J.S.D. Candidate at New York University School of Law and an Affiliated Scholar at NYU's U.S.-Asia Law Institute. His doctoral project, "Abusive Legalism," addresses the systematic abuse of sub-constitutional legal norms and institutions by authoritarian regimes. Alvin holds degrees from NYU (LL.M. in International Legal Studies, 2014) and Cambridge (M.A. 2011), and has worked in Hong Kong as a barrister and as a lecturer in Law & Public Affairs at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has also written and presented extensively about developments in Hong Kong for academic, specialist, and lay audiences.

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