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EDITORIAL: HK demands hobble Beijing’s plans
On Tuesday, more than 500,000 Hong Kongers took to the streets to demand democracy. Although Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) declined to accept their petition and Beijing has not agreed to allow universal suffrage for the territory’s chief executive election, this rally was an important milestone in the history of democracy in Hong Kong.
Hong Kongers have spoken. The “Occupy Central” movement is not the end; it is just the beginning.
On June 22, Hong Kongers launched an unofficial referendum in which almost 800,000 people supported universal suffrage. Even though the Chinese State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office called the referendum illegal, more than 10 percent of the population came out to show their resolve, prompting the huge turnout on Tuesday.
According to a resolution made by China’s National People’s Congress in December 2007, Hong Kong is to be given universal suffrage in 2017. The problem is who will be allowed to stand as a candidate.
Hong Kong’s Basic Law states “[t]he ultimate aim is the selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures.”
In other words, candidates will be screened. Beijing has said that any prospective chief executive must be patriotic not only to Hong Kong, but also to China, and that they must not oppose Beijing.
Basically, Beijing wants a universal suffrage system it can manipulate, while the people of Hong Kong are seeking true universal suffrage.
It is just three years until 2017 and Hong Kongers are getting anxious.
In June, Beijing published its “one country, two systems” white paper, emphasizing that, while Hong Kongers enjoy autonomy, decisions still need to be approved by Beijing, which essentially gives China the power to veto policies or decisions formulated in Hong Kong.
This goes against former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s (鄧小平) original assurance that the special arrangements made for Hong Kong would not change for 50 years. It also infuriated Hong Kong residents.
Many feel that “one country, two systems” is already dead, which is why they have taken their anger onto the streets. For them, democracy is no longer a choice; it is imperative.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a complicated relationship with democracy. It is the foundation on which political power is legitimized and the CCP needs to fly the flag of democracy to win over citizens. This is why former CCP chairman Mao Zedong (毛澤東) talked of a “proletarian democracy” during the Cultural Revolution. However, to achieve it, communist authoritarianism needs to be scrapped.
Wary of the “corrosive, subversive” effects of democracy, the party takes every opportunity to allege that democracy is a Western value — not a universal one — and that China should establish a system that suits its culture and history.
Tuesday’s rally has shown the world what Hong Kong people want and how determined they are to get it. Beijing would have been watching, too.
The crucial question is how Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) will respond.
Ostensibly as part of his anti-corruption drive, Xi has cleared the way of figures who did not see eye-to-eye with him, such as former Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai (薄熙來) and retired domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang (周永康), and this week having former Central Military Commission vice chairman Xu Caihou (徐才厚) arrested.
Once the domestic problems have been addressed, he will turn his attention to dealing with the demands for democracy in Hong Kong and issues with Taiwan. No matter what happens, the Sunflower student movement and Tuesday’s demonstrations in Hong Kong will have made a profound impression on him.
source: Taipei Times
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