Effect and reflect: opening the ‘black hands’ of foreign involvement in the 2019-20 Hong Kong protests

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines foreign involvement in Hong Kong’s 2019–20 protests. It focuses on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) and local supporters’ accusations that foreign ‘black hands’ fomented chaos on the streets of the city. The paper argues that these accusations are partly a consequence of actual external involvement in the tumult. However, this factor alone does not explain Beijing’s advocacy of the ‘black hands’ thesis. The CCP’s perceptions of the role of foreign forces in the social unrest have also been shaped by mirror imaging in the context of Hong Kong’s Cold War history as an intelligence and covert action frontline, as well as the city’s contemporary socio-political attributes.