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ANALYSIS
'One country, two systems'
under fire
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING - Beijing is trying to ease tensions in
Hong Kong, where mass protests against a
national-security bill have turned into big rallies for
democratic change - and now threaten to derail China's
long-term goal of reunification with Taiwan.
This threat stems from the fact that the
discontent in Hong Kong, six years after its handover to
China, is exposing the faults of the "one country, two
systems" formula of the territory's autonomous
rule.
The Hong Kong experiment with "one country,
two systems" is being closely watched in Taiwan, the
island China claims as its own territory and has vowed
to embrace back with promises for similar "hands off"
autonomy.
The wariness in Beijing is such that
the political ferment in the former British colony,
which has been going on for weeks, has been kept under
the wraps by the state-run Chinese media.
However, Beijing leaders have begun subtly to
distance themselves from the unpopular Hong Kong leader
Tung Chee-hwa, in the meantime assuring Hong Kong people
that public opinion in the territory is a subject of
intense study by the mainland. Already, teams of
political cadres, academics and intelligence agents have
been sent to take the pulse of this bilingual and
diverse city of 6.8 million people.
A
high-ranking Chinese official, speaking in the wake of a
third mass street protest in Hong Kong on the weekend,
said on Monday that the demonstrations had to be taken
seriously.
Long Yongtu, a former top trade
negotiator, indicated that Beijing leaders had taken
notice of the powerful display of social discontent in
the territory. "Hong Kong is a place with a lot of
freedom of speech, and protests [are] one of the ways
for Hong Kong people to express their opinions and
thoughts. Any method of expression, so long as allowed
under the law, deserves to be taken seriously," Long
told reporters in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, mainland
propaganda has stepped up the rhetoric to present the
brewing political ferment in Hong Kong as a crisis of an
administration rather than calls for democratic change.
Also this week, the Hong Kong edition of the
Beijing-sanctioned China Daily attacked the city's
pro-democracy politicians, saying the July 1 street
protest that gathered half a million Hong Kong people
does not indicate public support for political reforms.
Democratic politicians are using the march and
public discontent with the administration of Chief
Executive Tung Chee-hwa to "subvert" the city's
political system, charged a signed editorial in the
paper. "Hong Kong people have had a lot of grievances
against the government, but it does not mean they like
the 'democrats'," said the commentary in the
English-language newspaper.
Another mass
demonstration on the weekend - the third in only a month
- has added more pressure on Tung, the Beijing-picked
chief executive, to step down.
The weekend
protests in Hong Kong came in the wake of a rally by
half a million people on July 1, the sixth anniversary
of the former British colony's return to Chinese rule,
against a proposed bill that critics say would bring
communist-style suppression of dissent to the territory.
A second protest was held on July 9 with people
calling on Tung to step down and "return power to the
people".
The protests have vented people's
frustrations and anxieties about everything that has
gone wrong since the 1997 handover to Chinese rule.
Since Tung became chief executive in 1997, the
city has suffered two recessions that have seen property
prices fall by 60 percent. Unemployment is running at
8.3 percent - something unheard of in this once-vibrant
financial hub.
Tung's administration has been
blamed also for mishandling the severe acute respiratory
syndrome outbreak in March. For fear of upsetting
Beijing, Hong Kong leaders failed to criticize China's
cover-up of the epidemic - their initial response to the
health crisis was an inept playing-down of the
outbreak's seriousness.
But most of all, Tung
has lost the respect of many among the public for
failing to keep China's promise that it would not meddle
in Hong Kong's affairs for 50 years, under the "one
country, two systems" formula.
Tung was forced
to tone down and later delay the passage of a
controversial security law, called Article 23, after
members of his administration joined public opposition
to the bill. The proposed new anti-subversion bill has
been hotly debated for fear that it could be used
against political opponents. The initial draft of the
new law allows Hong Kong authorities to outlaw all local
groups with ties to any organizations banned on mainland
China. Police would be given sweeping powers to conduct
searches without warrants and journalists who published
classified information would be liable for breaching the
law.
The political crisis in the former British
colony comes at an embarrassing time for Chinese
leaders, who are preparing to greet British Prime
Minister Tony Blair next week.
Beijing has made
clear that at some point, Article 23 would have to be
passed, as required under the mini-constitution put in
place when Hong Kong reverted from British rule to
Chinese sovereignty.
"Passing the anti-subversion
law has nothing to do with curtailing civil liberties,"
argued Professor Yang Zhenshan from the People's
Politics and Law University in Beijing. "It is about the
relationship between the state and the society," he
explained. "If a political disturbance takes place in
Hong Kong, it will be against the interests of the state
and therefore not in the interests of Hong Kong people.
"Freedom is one thing while law and security is
another," he added. "Tung Chee-hwa will not step down
because of this. Stability in Hong Kong is in the best
interests of the Hong Kong people."
(Inter Press
Service)
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