appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Viswa Nathan

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has achieved little with her wilted olive branch of withdrawing an extradition bill previously pronounced “dead”. The mass protests she helped to spark, now in their fourth month, rage on.
The protests have become matters of sovereignty and security, therefore a national issue, Lam previously said, in effect washing her hands of the crisis. She also said Beijing is willing to play the long game.
Any view that the protests will fizzle out, like with the 2014 “umbrella movement”, could be a miscalculation. If this is Beijing’s view, it has been misled. Hong Kong’s administrators and others who advise Beijing are clueless about public sentiment.
Lam’s attempt to amend the extradition law is a prime example. Similarly, over a month ago, Maria Tam Wai-chu, deputy director of the Basic Law Committee under the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, said the protest “flame is dying down” and that hopefully, the protests would flag once schools reopen. Look at what is happening now!
The protesters are determined to fight for their cause. This spirit was conveyed to me by Demosisto leader Joshua Wong Chi-fung, and founder of Hong Kong National Party Andy Chan Ho-tin in separate conversations nearly a year ago. Then, pro-democracy campaigners were languishing after the Occupy Central fiasco, and the government had banned Chan’s pro-independence party. While their goals do not match, both Wong and Chan expressed a similar spirit.




Chan said the trend for “a separate identity” for Hong Kong “will continue until the goal is realised”. Wong, who seeks not independence but Hongkongers’ right to self-determination and the election of lawmakers and the chief executive by universal suffrage, said that “for Hong Kong to gain real democracy, it may have to wait until Xi Jinping steps down”. He and his supporters, he said, were prepared for it.
Communist Party leaders in Beijing should not find this resolve strange. The party had to struggle for over two decades to wrest power from the Kuomintang.
The ball is in Beijing’s court and how it tackles it will determine if Hong Kong caves in or becomes the tail that wags the dog.
Xi’s channelling of Mao shows he’s about to get tough on Hong Kong
The protests have been costly for the community. The stock market, tourist arrivals, hotel occupancy, room rates, and consumer spending – all have declined deeply, raising the spectre of recession. Critics of the protests and Beijing buffs cite China’s emergence as the world’s second-largest economy as good reason to give in to the central government’s diktat.
They quote a World Bank study which found that more than 850 million people in China have lifted themselves out of poverty in the past four decades. But what these advocates overlook is that this achievement resulted from market reforms initiated in 1978. The lesson is, what can be achieved when the communist iron grip over the populace is loosened.
This is what a large section of people in Hong Kong is seeking. They can be happy with Chinese sovereignty if the freedoms promised in the Basic Law are implemented so they can elect their lawmakers and chief executive by universal suffrage. Meaningful universal suffrage would include voters’ right to nominate candidates, including themselves, to stand for election, rather than voting for candidates put up by their rulers.




The Communist Party is supposed to be a party of the people for the people. Why then, after 70 years of control, can it not trust the people under its rule?
This lack of trust is behind the creation of a nomination committee to select the chief executive, and the requirement that candidates for chief executive, legislative and district council elections sign a “confirmation form” affirming loyalty to the Basic Law. A candidate’s allegiance to the Basic Law is implicit in his or her decision to stand for election. The draconian policy has driven people to team up with critics of the rulers.
If the current impasse is to be solved peacefully and soon, Beijing needs to rethink things.
The protesters are, of course, jubilant about their support from a large section of the community. However, they too need to re-examine their strategies of storming MTR stations and blocking passage to the airport. Such tactics extended over long periods are likely to antagonise the public.
Viswa Nathan, a Hong Kong-based journalist, was editor in chief of the now-defunct broadsheet morning daily, Hongkong Standard


Stand News editor had no intention of harming national security, court hears

2 men jailed for up to 38 months over pro-independence group’s secession plot

3 arrested for allegedly acting with seditious intent outside MTR station

Retired Cardinal Joseph Zen, 4 others lose appeal over failure to register protest fund

Hong Kong protests

Hong Kong protests will not fizzle out on their own – Beijing needs to rethink its approach

Protesters rally inside the arrivals hall of Hong Kong International Airport on August 9. Photo: EPA-EFE

China’s soft power failures may cost Hong Kong its trade status

The emblem of the People's Republic of China at the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong was vandalised following a march calling for democratic reforms on July 21. A line has been crossed, but an overly tough response by Beijing would only undermine confidence in the city. Photo: Reuters

Is China trying to replace Hong Kong with Shenzhen?

China plans to turn Shenzhen into a socialist model city. Photo: Roy Issa

Opinion


Hong Kong protesters’ resolve should not be unfamiliar to the Communist Party with its history of struggle against the Kuomintang. A more draconian policy will only harden that resolve, but what can be achieved if the grip is loosened?



Hong Kong extradition bill

Hong Kong political reform

Universal suffrage in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Basic Law

Occupy Central

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor

Joshua Wong

Hong Kong youth

Hong Kong economy

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column