Independent Hong Kong isn't on anyone's agenda
Victor Fung Keung says people are just resorting to extreme means to vent their frustrations
Chen Zuoer, the former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing and a key negotiator during the 1997 handover, said recently that "a force calling for Hong Kong independence has been gaining momentum in recent years, and it has spread like a virus".
He needn't worry; there is no independence force, or virus.
Not for an instant would I or hundreds of others ever believe that an independence movement could take root in this city. Our water, fuel and food - without which we couldn't survive - all come from the mainland. Physically or politically, Hong Kong could never become independent.
Chen, an extremely patriotic Chinese citizen, can rest easy. No political party in Hong Kong ever talks of the slight possibility of an independent Hong Kong, and their political platforms, including those of the powerful Democratic Party and Civic Party, never offer hints that advocating independence is one of their goals.
I am also pretty sure none of the major think tanks in Hong Kong has called on the city to go its own way.
So why did Chen make such an alarmist statement? The timing of his warning betrays him, coming when he was in Hong Kong last month to launch a book, in which he shares his experiences of the Sino-British negotiations over Hong Kong's future.
