[Zaobao.com]Ma Liang: China Should Flexibly Change Its Policy towards Hong Kong

About three weeks later, when the grand celebration for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China will be held in Beijing, disorder and turmoil might still linger on in Hong Kong. As both China and Hong Kong issues are of global concern, all eyes will be on the two events. However, a south-north comparison, namely a well-ordered celebration in Beijing and a chaotic society in Hong Kong, will depict a bizarre China.

In 1997 when Hong Kong returned to China, people were more concerned about how the mainland accepted Hong Kong and whether Hong Kong could maintain autonomy. On the one hand, the economic interlock between Hong Kong and the mainland might increase the former’s economic independence on the latter and therefore impair the political independence of Hong Kong. On the other hand, Hong Kong was worried about infiltration and influence from the mainland, which might cause Hong Kong to lose many of its advantages, such as rule of law, clean government and liberal market economy. For example, studies show that economic and trade contacts with the mainland have complicated and concealed corruption in Hong Kong, which faces greater challenges and pressure in clean government building.

More than twenty years have passed. Today, within the framework of the “one country, two systems” principle, Hong Kong has basically maintained relative independence and autonomy, though many Hong Kongers are still suspicious of the political influence of Beijing. Meanwhile, Hong Kong and the mainland are increasingly interlocked in economy to the extent that quite a lot of mainlanders believe that Hong Kong already cannot afford to break away from the mainland. This year, riots caused by opposition to the amendments to Fugitive Offenders Ordinance in Hong Kong, which are still escalating, have prompted many people to rethink whether Hong Kong has truly returned to China and whether a “re-return” is needed.

Facing rips and riots in Hong Kong, many people even pessimistically predict that the National Day will be a noteworthy divide. For the continual unrest in Hong Kong, although the central leadership has not yet given any formal response, Beijing will not sit by, let alone on the occasion of such an important National Day celebration. Chinese armed police forces assembled in Shenzhen for a drill not long ago, which is considered an interesting signal as it was first reported by China’s state media to the public, clearly reflecting the political signal behind it.

On September 3, Xu Luying, Spokesperson of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, stated that as per either the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Garrisoning the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the Basic Law, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Hong Kong Garrison may be called out to help the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government “stop violence and control chaos” in critical situations, but this never means the end of the “one country, two systems” principle. The remark adds much more legitimacy to any intervention by the central government and having PLA Hong Kong Garrison participate in maintaining order in Hong Kong becomes a more realistic option.

The 70-year development history of new China, especially the rapid growth over the past four decades, is largely inextricably linked to Hong Kong. Before the implementation of the reform and opening-up, many mainlanders chose to steal into Hong Kong via Shekou, Shenzhen, to escape from famine, make a living and reunite with their families. Influenced by the debates over whether Hong Kong was socialist or capitalist, Hong Kong was deemed as a “dreadful monster”. With gradual deepening of the reform and opening-up, the Chinese government has slowly changed its stand from siege to economic cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong, because the key to people’s attitude lies in whether they can be well fed and whether the economy runs well.

Since the reform and opening-up, China has been energetically developing market economy, with coastal open cities like Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ) rising first, which chased after, run neck and neck with and now even seem to surpass Hong Kong. China has learnt a lot of experience and practices from Hong Kong, together with quite a few lessons and set patterns though. A visit to the Pearl River Delta, especially Shenzhen, will reveal striking similarities to Hong Kong in many respects. It is the experience from Hong Kong in market economy, city management and public services that helps China save detours and costs. Meanwhile, high housing prices, wealth gap and populism in Hong Kong can also be found in numerous cities in the mainland.

Many mainlanders that have been to Hong Kong share such knowledge that if they speak Mandarin in the street or at a restaurant, reactions from Hong Kong natives may discomfort them, but it would be much better when they speak English or Cantonese. Such “treating mainlanders with special regard” is a long-standing practice that can hardly be eliminated within a short period of time and even whether the efforts to eliminate are necessary is worth considering. After all, many Hong Kongers consider themselves “people of Hong Kong”, not “people of China”. Especially when an increasing number of mainlanders spend money like water in Hong Kong, natives there feel a clear identity gap and then have a stronger sense of identity as Hong Kongers.

Inexplicably, some rioters waved flags of the UK or the U.S. in the ongoing violence and illegal activities in Hong Kong. People of Hong Kong have favorable views of the UK, which ever colonized Hong Kong, as if they were captives identifying closely with their captors, which is a typical manifestation of the “Stockholm Syndrome”. Rioters’ favor towards the U.S. shows their yearning for what the U.S. has and also the charismatic image set by the U.S. in the globe. Such strong presence of the two countries in Hong Kong in turn deserves the mainland’s reflection on how it can maintain such invisible but ubiquitous spiritual influence on Hong Kong.

The positive side of riots in Hong Kong is that Mainland China finally can chew over and change its policy towards Hong Kong. When designing and executing the policy towards Hong Kong, the United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee must abandon conventional practices and adopt a more flexible and clever strategy. It might be grudging and even counter-productive to bank on exchanging economic benefits for political support, and inefficient to lay hopes on exerting influence by controlling, directly or indirectly, the appointment or dismissal of key political figures.

If China continues to overlook the growth environment and education policy for the younger generation in Hong Kong and shut its eyes against how to bring them back to their homeland, it will not gain popular support from Hong Kong. If China cannot build and consolidate soft power, which Hong Kongers are well convinced of and obsessed with, real return of Hong Kong will be hardly achieved.

Meanwhile, mainlandization of Hong Kong might not make it easier to solve the problem. With Hong Kong as its pathfinder, China may enjoy much room for maneuver and explore the possibilities of institutional innovation in many aspects. It is the within the framework of “one country, two systems” that Hong Kong enjoys a higher policy and system “ceiling” than that in the mainland, so that the mainland can draw experience and lessons from the explorations Hong Kong has made. Although many cities in the mainland tend to surpass Hong Kong on the economic front, the unique status and positive significance of Hong Kong will remain for an infinitely long time.

The intractability of the unrest in Hong Kong lies in subtle political implications of Hong Kong for the mainland and Taiwan. Returning to Hong Kong what belongs to it and truly putting into practice “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” might be the fundamental solution. In this case, however, the mainland will be further Hongkongized at a faster pace and face greater pressure on maintaining social stability. On the other hand, China’s attitude and stance towards Hong Kong might deeply affect political developments in Taiwan and cross-straits relations.

In the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, prospects for the return of Taiwan are of deep concern. Whether China can effectively govern Hong Kong will be a touchstone in the case of Taiwan. Therefore, maintaining the basic principle of “one country, two systems” and sticking to the “bottom line” that the central government will intervene when necessary might be a pragmatic path to govern Hong Kong and also the only way to enhance cross-straits consensus and seek unification.

Ma Liang:  Research Fellow at National Academy of Development and Strategy, and Professor at School of Public Administration and Policy, Renmin University of China

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http://www.zaobao.com/zopinions/views/story20190906-986917