Students will harm Hong Kong by fanning flames of resentment towards Beijing

The burning of a copy of Hong Kong's Basic Law by student leaders at the June 4 vigil was a huge disgrace. Did the students appreciate the nature of the Basic Law, which guarantees the rights of Hong Kong people as well as our uniqueness under the "one country, two systems" principle?

One could only assume that, by burning a copy of the mini-constitution, they are calling for the scrapping of "one country, two systems", which is utterly irresponsible.

The growing hostility of the young towards the central government is worrying. The students acted out their fury towards Beijing. In fact, their default position now is opposition on all fronts.

I am surprised the students did not learn a lesson from the failure of the Occupy Central movement to extract any concessions from Beijing, not even a minor one. Being tough is by no means an effective way to bargain with the central government; Beijing is as tough as they come.

If we care about Hong Kong's development, we must review our approach. A strategy of all-out opposition has already put the city in quite the predicament. Policies put forward by the government, even those on livelihood issues, are routinely held up in the legislature by filibustering pan-democrats.

As a result, public needs are left unmet. Even the disbursement of a subsidy for low-income working families, which has little to do with political reform, has been delayed. Society as a whole suffers. Provocations by radical students further harm Hong Kong. By politicising every issue, they stir up outrage against the central and Hong Kong governments. When people's resentment rises over the government's failure to fix their problems, the possibility of finding a solution becomes even more remote. This creates a vicious circle.