Asia-Pacific Features

By Hazel Parry Jun 30, 2007, 12:35 GMT

China's 10th birthday present to Hong Kong: A lesson in obedience

Hong Kong - Ten can be a difficult age, as any parent will tell you. It's a time when children can be unpredictable and defiant, and when going out in public with them as they teeter bad-temperedly on the brink of their surly teens can be an embarrassing and provoking experience. So it may prove for China on July 1 as president Hu Jintao pays a paternalistic visit to Hong Kong to join in the celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the former British colony's return to Chinese rule. It is a birthday that, on the face of it, offers many reasons to be cheerful. The wealthy city of 6.9 million, which many predicted investors would flee as soon as China marched in, is now more prosperous than ever before. Property prices are sky high and the Hang Seng Index is at an all-time high. Hong Kong people feel spiritually and economically closer to China as well, it appears. Patriotism is on the rise as China's economic power soars and a survey earlier this month showed that for the first time, people in the city prefer to call themselves Chinese rather than Hong Kongers. As fireworks explode over Victoria Harbour to mark the anniversary, President Hu and his comrades can congratulate themselves on a successful decade of gradual economic and political integration that sends a powerful message to Taiwan, the 'renegade province' China would like to absorb in a similar way. But 10-year-olds are not always as grateful as they should be. While President Hu might reasonably expect childlike affection from some, he would do well to prepare for equal measures of rudeness, tantrums and downright defiance during his visit to the city that Beijing has never been able to fully control. Noisy protests decrying China's human rights record are being planned to coincide with the early-morning flag-raising ceremony on the waterfront on July 1. Thousands are expected to join an annual pro-democracy march later in the day, an event which in 2003 and 2004 drew crowds of more than 500,000. A decade after Hong Kong's return to China, the city still has the ability to be a thorn in the side of Beijing. Mass protests in 2003 and 2004 effectively forced the Beijing-appointed chief executive Tung Chee-hwa out of office and pro-democracy legislators derailed his successor Donald Tsang's conservative constitutional reform package later the same year. This year, to Beijing's consternation, a pro-democracy candidate garnered enough nominations to stand against Tsang in the chief executive election. Although he had no chance of winning a majority of the votes of the largely pro-Beijing election committee, he forced Tsang into a public debate over Hong Kong's political future. That debate remains an uncomfortable one for Tsang and for Beijing which clearly does not want to allow universal suffrage in Hong Kong in the short-term, even though the city's post-handover mini-constitution, the Basic Law, technically allows for it from 2007 onwards. Rising prosperity in Hong Kong in the four years since the first mass protest has eased political tension but failed to completely quell anti-China sentiment in Hong Kong. An estimated 55,000 took part in this year's annual candlelight vigil commemorating the June 4 Tiananmen Square massacre, a 15,000 increase on the 2006 figure. Beijing's unspoken hope was that such blatantly anti-China demonstrations would have run their course 10 years after the handover. They haven't, and in response, the past year has seen a change of emphasis in the official Chinese approach to dealing with Hong Kong. The approach Beijing has chosen is similar to the one a parent tries when a spoilt and wilful child is repeatedly disobedient - it has put its foot down and asserted its authority. China has gone to lengths to make it clear that absolutely no political evolution can take place in the city without its consent. That message is being sent out by some of its most powerful officials, people like Wu Bangguo, head of China's National People's Congress, who warned in June that there were limits to Hong Kong's political autonomy and said the city should not attempt to undermine Beijing's 'absolute power.' The message was later echoed by the head of the Hong Kong-based Central Policy Unit, Professor Lau Siu-kai, who at a seminar to mark the handover anniversary said the city had to 'fully accept Beijing's authority.' 'People must accept that our high degree of autonomy comes from the delegation of power from Beijing and does not originate from Hong Kong people,' he said, with the underlying message that if Beijing chose to roll back that autonomy it could easily do so at any time it wants. Whether the clever, accomplished but infuriatingly unruly 10-year-old that is Hong Kong heeds that warning or takes it as an invitation to provoke, annoy and defy Beijing with more mischief may become apparent when the eyes of the world turn on the city's anniversary celebrations on July 1. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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David HelffrichJun 30th, 2007 - 13:13:27

Your metaphor reveals an opinion of freedom-loving peoples as immature. In your view, is it immature to love liberty?

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David LumJun 30th, 2007 - 14:29:01

Under the revered old days of British rule, how much 'democracy' existed? Wasn't it interesting that the first real citizen votes for HK top leaders took place just months before the British departed?
Some people like 'democracy' when they think it helps them. Some hate democracy's results: Mr. Chavez, for example.

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RobJun 30th, 2007 - 16:12:05

Um, Chavez was democratically elected with 62% of the vote against a second place with 36.7%, with the opposition party recognising it? I fail to see why this would be 'hating democracy's results', given that he has control through it...

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DHelffrichJun 30th, 2007 - 16:17:10

... and some despise those who crave power over others and want to tear liberty away. Mr. Chavez, for example.

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Tony, OhioJun 30th, 2007 - 16:26:29

The celebrations about the HK 10th anniversary return to China is an internal historic event.

As outsiders, I think we should be happy for China and the people of HK.

We should respect the celebrations of other countries.

As Americans, we have celebrations too, so let's view it as a positive occassion.

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peacefulreunificationJun 30th, 2007 - 18:18:35

From polls conducted in independent and anti-China journals and newspapers in Hong Kong, close to 99% of the Hong Kong people approve of the way China is running things. In fact, I've read that 99% of the people believe that China is offering more democracy and freedom to Hong Kong than at any time in their history.

With those facts in mind, I believe the transition to a special administrative region under China has been an absolute success to Hong Kong.

Of course, anti-China Taiwanese sources would like to subvert the public by outright lies and propaganda, but that's expected of them, since they are in denial about the democracy and freedoms that China is offering to everyone.

Congratulations Hong Kong and China for taking the right steps.

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RobJun 30th, 2007 - 18:38:02

Oh I don't know about everyone, some would say the clearances going on pre-olympics for example, or holding of political prisoners, China's position at/near the top of the list for state executions and of course attitude to Tibet and Taiwan, it's censorship of the press and violent strikebreaking don't tally entirely with the idea of 'freedom'.

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Jeff_F_FJun 30th, 2007 - 22:19:19

99% is a lot. I've never heard of an actual poll that got 99% agreement on anything. Even Ngo Dinh Diem was only 'elected' as president of South Vietnam by 98.2% of the vote.

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ThomasJun 30th, 2007 - 22:43:43

Hong Kong is not a child, China is a bully.

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EvergreenJul 1st, 2007 - 02:47:10

When will Taiwan rejoin China to take advantage of China's booming economy and huge presence?

Taiwan will lose out if they do not join up with China.

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peacefulreunificationJul 1st, 2007 - 04:41:30

China doesn't censor anything. They allow every single website on the net to be viewed by their people. People who say China censors anything is just trying to subvert the public. The Chinese government fully believes in unfettered access to information for all Chinese.

And yes, 99% is a high number. It just comes to show much the people of Hong Kong love the freedoms that China offers.

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RobJul 1st, 2007 - 08:31:38

Uhuh, apart from when they are using the google search engine it seems (which has an agreement to censor the words Falun Gong from its engine for example), and of course the oh-so-unrestrictive registration scheme which sees hosting groups self-censor to retain their legality...

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China's 10th birthday present to Hong Kong: A lesson in obedience

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