Hong Kong’s practice of “one country, two systems” achieved another milestone on May 27, when the Legislative Council passed the Improving Electoral System (Consolidated Amendments) Bill 2021 after the third reading, to the cheers and applause of numerous Hong Kong residents. In the small hours of the following day, however, a mobile sampling station for the COVID-19 virus at Sha Tsui Road Playground in Tsuen Wan was set on fire, with several tents and a batch of virus-control materials destroyed.
Who was behind it? The crime reminds us of Feb 14, 2020, also in the early morning, when a designated anti-pandemic clinic in Hong Kong was set on fire. The police arrested 28 anti-government rioters afterward. The “black forces” in Hong Kong have repeatedly jeopardized the government’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the name of “resistance”.
On May 28, Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and nine other offenders were sentenced to imprisonment of 14 to 18 months for organizing a large-scale unauthorized assembly that posed a risk to public safety. The presiding judge, Amanda Woodcock, consequently received three anonymous calls of threatening to her life and her family’s.
Naturally, certain Western governments were upset by Hong Kong’s improved electoral system, as United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken protested immediately. His objection was echoed by US allies, including Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who joined the anti-China chorus in a dialogue with leaders of the European Union. Behind the dialogue between Europe and Japan, however, one can smell American pressure from miles away.
As long as Hong Kong remains committed to integrating its own development into the overall development strategy of the nation, the future of the “Pearl of the Orient” will shine ever brighter under “one country, two systems”
Those are not coincidences. They are desperate responses of hostile forces to the National Security Law promulgated for implementation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the efforts to improve the electoral system of Hong Kong through local legislation. Evidently, some people are under an illusion and refuse to accept the game is over for their interference in Hong Kong affairs.
On July 1, the HKSAR will celebrate its 24th anniversary. In the past 24 years, the opposition forces at home and the hostile forces abroad have never stopped their attempts at undermining or interfering in the administration of the SAR government. They have tried and failed repeatedly to seize control of Hong Kong. The reason they have not and will not succeed is simple: The HKSAR is guarded by the institutional framework under “one country, two systems”, “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” and a high degree of autonomy, as enshrined in the Basic Law. That said, the HKSAR government still needs the authorization and strong support of the central authorities to do its job effectively.
Hong Kong has never been a utopian society that is free from hostile forces. As a matter of fact, the city has been exploited by external forces as a forefront for containing China’s development by creating chaos or even launching the “black revolution” through their proxies in Hong Kong. Under British colonial rule, Hong Kong people had limited freedom but no democracy. Then, in the years leading up to July 1, 1997, the British government prepared to undermine China’s exercise of sovereign rule over Hong Kong by “planting” its proxies through a hastily installed representative democracy system. The US, meanwhile, proceeded to take over control of the future anti-China forces known today as the “pan-democrat camp” with unprecedented sophistication and via manipulating their proxies in Hong Kong. The anti-China bloc in the opposition camp cultivated by Western forces all these years followed their foreign masters’ orders, such as in derailing the national security legislation according to Article 23 of the Basic Law in 2003, the “Occupy Central” campaign in 2014 and the “black revolution” in 2019, widely seen as a typical “color revolution”. Since taking office, the Joe Biden administration has maintained interference in Hong Kong affairs, because it wants to contain China’s development, as did the Donald Trump administration.
In the “black revolution” of 2019, the central authorities in Beijing did not send a single soldier to Hong Kong, while the Hong Kong Police Force dutifully maintained social order to the best of its abilities. However, the decisive blow that ended months of violence and chaos came from the central authorities through the National Security Law for Hong Kong. Today, with the improvement of Hong Kong’s electoral system, it is safe to say the anti-China forces can no longer undermine and sabotage Hong Kong’s development as they used to. In hindsight, the past 24 years proved a costly learning curve, including such setbacks as failure to complete national security legislation according to Article 23 of the Basic Law. The HKSAR government is obviously not politically sophisticated and strong enough to handle the challenges posed by the external forces who honed their subversive craft in decades of the Cold War, as well as by their local proxies. Thus, it relies on the strong support of the central authorities to stay on track.
There is no doubt that Hong Kong will remain a “hot spot” in the thick of the intensifying rivalry between China and the US in the years to come. No matter what happens, the people of Hong Kong can always count on the central authorities and the motherland for help. As long as Hong Kong remains committed to integrating its own development into the overall development strategy of the nation, the future of the “Pearl of the Orient” will shine ever brighter under “one country, two systems”.
The author is president of Hong Kong think tank the Golden Mean Institute.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.