Hu Jintao struts his stuff in
Macau By Lin Lingjun
HONG
KONG - The fifth anniversary of Macau's return to the
embrace of the Chinese motherland gave Chinese President
Hu Jintao a chance to strut his stuff and demonstrate
his full control of the military. He was accompanied -
unusual for such a ceremony - by a star-studded cast of
Beijing's military and political heavyweights, leaving
no doubt about who was in charge. Not only did Hu make
clear that the military was behind him, he also used the
opportunity to rap the knuckles of Hong Kong's chief
executive publicly for economic and political failures,
while he praised Macau's leadership for exhibiting
China's "one country, two systems" policy at its best in
what planners hope will become Asia's free-wheeling Las
Vegas. Taiwan, take note.
In his journey to
Macau this week President Hu, unprecedented in a public
forum, reprimanded Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung
Chee-hwa, and as well demonstrated his ability to take
full command of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the
government and the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the
Chinese trident of power.
On Sunday and Monday
Hu toured the former Portuguese enclave of Macau for
celebrations of the fifth anniversary of the special
administrative region's (SAR's) return to Chinese rule.
During his two-day visit, Hu did some sightseeing,
delivered a few speeches and attended the inauguration
ceremony of the second-term SAR government. While most
of his speeches were dominated by communist platitudes,
what actually captured the public's, and the China
watchers', attention was the list of senior officials
accompanying Hu. It was his first trip to Macau after he
replaced Jiang Zemin as the country's commander-in-chief
in September, thereby consolidating his state, party and
military power.
When Jiang stepped down, only
then did his presidential successor Hu truly become the
most powerful man in the world's most populous country,
as chairman of the ruling CPC, the head of the PLA and
the president of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
This is probably why the delegation accompanying Hu, to
some political observers' surprise, included extremely
high-ranking officials, including Wang Gang, director of
the General Office of the party's Central Committee;
Liang Guanglie, chief of the General Staff of the PLA;
and State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan.
According to
China experts, the lineup is even higher in profile than
the one that accompanied then-president Jiang to Hong
Kong in 2002 for the fifth anniversary of its return
from the United Kingdom to the embrace of the Chinese
motherland. Then, the military representative was Wang
Ke, director of PLA General Logistics Department. In
Chinese military ranks, the PLA's chief of general staff
usually carries more weight than the general logistics
director.
Citing the extraordinarily high-power
lineup, political observers believe that Hu was
exploiting the visit to flex his political and military
muscles. The decision to take along General Staff Chief
Liang Guanglie also underscores Hu's firm control of the
armed forces. Analysts assert that Hu successfully
displayed his diplomatic skills in the recently
concluded 12th Economic Leaders' Meeting of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in
Chile. The tour of Macau could be regarded as a showcase
for his dominance of domestic affairs, possibly as a
rehearsal of an all-out display of Hu's overwhelming
influence in advance of the third session of the 10th
National People Congress, China's parliament, in March,
when the world will focus on the Middle Kingdom to see
to what extent China actually is strengthening the rule
of law applicable to all citizens and trying to reduce
gaping economic disparities and make China truly a
market economy.
Also present at the Macau
handover anniversary pageant was a delegation of the
Hong Kong SAR government headed by Chief Executive Tung,
who, along with Macau Chief Executive Edmond Ho,
reported on their performance to President Hu. This was
the first time the two SAR leaders had been debriefed
outside Beijing, in contrast to the usual practice in
which they flew to the capital to deliver their annual
reports.Yet the unusual arrangement had no underlying
political motive and had been planned by Hu and the
Macau and Hong Kong chief executives, according to Chen
Zuo'er, deputy director of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs
Office of the State Council.
Both the former
British colony of Hong Kong and former Portuguese colony
of Macau have been regarded as the touchstone, the
demonstration and test sites for the policy of "one
country, two systems", devised and enunciated by the
late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, since again becoming
part of China's official territory. December 20, 2004,
marks the fifth anniversary of the founding of the Macau
Special Administrative Region, perfect timing for
Beijing to proclaim to the world the great success of
the policy - at least in Macau.
In sharp
contrast, however, Hong Kong has got bogged down in a
continual economic recession after seven years of
pushing for broad popular acceptance of "one country,
two systems". In his meeting with Tung, Hu expressed his
special concern for the Hong Kong territory. On the one
hand, he recognized the achievements of Tung's
administration, while on the other hand, he called for
further improvement in governance. In the past Hu has
urged Tung to listen carefully to the voices of the
people of Hong Kong, and not to ignore them. These days,
Hu is beleaguered both by the pro-democracy elements in
Hong Kong and by Beijing's visible dissatisfaction with
his inability to win over the people in Hong Kong and
improve its economy.
In the presence of Tung's
Macau counterpart Edmund Ho, Hu told the beleaguered
Hong Kong chief executive and his principal officials to
examine their past shortcomings, to raise their
competence and improve their governance. Standing
quietly like disciples, all the top officials from Hong
Kong listened solemnly as Hu delivered his sermon. As
clearly shown by video clips, Tung appeared ill at ease
and shifted his body position uncomfortably during the
process, as if he were embarrassed by Hu's public
remarks that seemed to pin down every single fault of
his administration. Above all, the failure of Link Real
Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to go public tops the
chart when it comes to the recent scandals under the
Tung administration. The US$3 billion privatization deal
went sour and its initial public offering (IPO) was
scrapped this week after a legal challenge by an elderly
pensioner. The Hong Kong Housing Authority wants to sell
151 shopping centers and 79,000 car parking spaces to
investors through the Link REIT, the territory's first
and the world's biggest property trust listing.
Hu's remarks about Hong Kong contrasted sharply
with his praise for Edmund Ho, hand-picked to be the
former Portuguese colony's chief executive. The gaming
enclave's turbocharged economy has soared as Macau, in a
very different situation from Hong Kong, has dodged many
of the problems that have plagued its much bigger
financial-powerhouse neighbor.
Facing them
directly, President Hu urged all members of Tung's
cabinet to unite for the overall long-term interest of
Hong Kong and the mainland, and to embrace people-based
governance, with a view to improving economic
development and elevating people's livelihood.
Critics say Hu's public reprimand was a clear
indication of his mounting irritation over the Tung
administration's widely acknowledged incompetence,
particularly with the Hung Hom Peninsula fiasco, the
aborted listing of the world's biggest real-estate
investment trust, the controversy surrounding the West
Kowloon cultural project, as well as internal bickering
and rivalry in the Hong Kong cabinet as principal
officials jockey to take over as the next chief
executive.
Tung, however, was in a clear
minority in interpreting Hu's remarks positively, saying
the Beijing leader was only expressing hope the SAR
government and its principal officials would perform
better.
"It was not a dressing down," Tung
insisted. "In fact, the president affirmed the work that
we have done. And it is quite natural, I would imagine,
that in any place this would happen, the president or
the leader of a nation would express the hope and desire
of what they would expect the team to be doing."
Nonetheless, Hu's remarks came at a time when
the problem-ridden Hong Kong government was grappling
with the last-minute collapse of the Link listing and
the HK$40 billion (US$5.1 billion) West Kowloon project.
Of senior Hong Kong officials, only Michael Suen, the
secretary for housing, planning and lands, one of the
targets of public wrath, was absent from the ceremony in
Macau.
In his three-point lecture, Hu told Tung
and his cabinet to improve their performance and stick
to "people-based"' governance.
"I hope everyone
will seriously reflect on what Hong Kong has gone
through in the past seven years while implementing 'one
country, two systems', draw conclusions from its
experience and examine its inadequacies, as well as
continue raising its administrative competence and
standard of its governance," Hu said.
"I hope
everyone will bear in mind Hong Kong's overall long-term
interests, and the interests of the country, to
strengthen unity and cooperation, to work together with
one heart and to be supportive of each other," Hu added,
as Tung and his cabinet stood grim-faced. Hu also made
it clear that the Hong Kong government should "stick to
the people-based principle in pushing for economic
development, improving people's governance and
maintaining social stability". Hu acknowledged, however,
that Hong Kong's development was headed in the right
direction. "The central government has affirmed your
work," he said.
His reprimand contrasted sharply
with his praise for the governance of Macau and its
chief executive, Edmund Ho. Hu pointed out that Macau
had overcome the Asian financial crisis, severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) and other challenges, and
had become a showcase for Asian economic and political
success under Ho's leadership.
Hong Kong and
Macau Affairs Office deputy director Chen Zuo'er
expanded on Hu's remarks, saying the president hopes the
overall community will "treasure" its hard-won
opportunities and better handle problems of concern to
the public.
Tung sought to put the best face on
Hu's criticism, saying people should interpret his
remarks positively. "Hong Kong is a diversified society.
Whenever there is a new policy, there must be different
opinions. This is very natural ... Therefore, there is
no governance crisis," he said in Hong Kong later on
Monday. He said he would take heed of Hu's advice and
try to improve his performance. "We had a very good
meeting. He was very supportive of the work we have been
doing and he thought that the development in Hong Kong
was positive. I feel that President Hu's advice is
important. We will make every effort to do a better
job."
Convulsed by the Asian financial crisis
starting in July 1997, the bubbling Hong Kong economy
plummeted. Local real estate bore the first brunt of the
cataclysm, and to date has kept going downhill. The
stock market, the pillar of the previous economic
strength, almost collapsed: the average daily trading
volume slumped drastically from HK$15 billion (US$1.93
billion) to only a third of the figure. Besides, the
consumption desire stagnated at an all-time low,
resulting in a retailing depression. All in all, steady
growth was recorded in foreign trade and logistics
services only.
In the bedeviled economic
environment, unemployment rose, registering 8.3% last
year, a record high ever since Hong Kong's reversion to
the mainland in 1997. Then, rising unemployment and
falling enterprise profits led to a curtailment of
public tax revenue, and the government also lost huge
land-sales payoffs in the shriveling real-estate market.
Welfare expenditure, nonetheless, kept soaring in order
to provide pensions to the growing senior population and
to relieve the expanding number of those out of work.
Coupled with the heavy burden to pay the overstaffed
civil-service establishment, the government claimed to
have a fiscal deficit of HK$32 billion during 1998-99,
and the succeeding years also have suffered towering
deficits; from 2002-03, the figure amounted to an
appalling HK$67.6 billion. Although the shortfall was
brought under control during 2003-04, Hong Kong has
reported a deficit for six consecutive fiscal years.
Unlike Macau's, Hong Kong's July celebrations of
the anniversary of its 1997 handover were not lavish,
except for all the hype in the local press. Nor was the
general public upbeat or in the mood for revelry.
As if enchanted by "one country, two systems",
Macau is now sparkling with a popular government, a
harmonious society and a buoyant economy. Driven by the
engine of gambling taxes, the government has been
reaping a substantial fiscal income. In the 2003, the
fiscal balance totaled 2.65 billion patacas (US$340
million), up by 50% compared with the previous year and
equal to about 4.2% of the local gross domestic product
(GDP). According to the latest statistics from Macau's
Bureau for Services of Finance, the fiscal balance in
the first three quarters of 2004 added up to 6.71
billion patacas, which reveals a robust financial status
and public spending under control. The surplus is
expected to outperform that of 2003.
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2004 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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