Hong Kong is a place where its residents have previously enjoyed economic prosperity and civil liberties. That is coming to an end. Through the proposed “national security” law, the CCP (China’s ruling party) has pretty much announced that it has given up on trying to win over Hong Kongers and will now proceed to act against them without their consent. The CCP has indicated that its weird obsession with control will trump sensible economic decisions.
The Hong Kongers who choose to stay will almost certainly make the CCP burn with them. The CCP will never control the Hong Kong people and turn them into obedient mainlanders who sing the Chinese national anthem instead of the Hong Kong anthem. At the same time, the Hong Kong people will suffer a terrible price at the hands of the CCP much like the Uyghur Muslims, Tibetians, Falun Gong, etc.
The loss of freedom is in many ways worse than COVID-19. Tanya Chan, a pro-democracy lawmaker, has described the day of the national security laws being introduced as the “saddest day in Hong Kong[‘s] history”.