On the first of this month people the of Hong Kong hit the streets with a pro-democracy demonstration that attracted 500,000 people. While the rest of the world was impressed, it was of particular embarrassment to Beijing.
Last year's 500,000-strong demonstration could be blamed on the incompetence of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華). But after that, Zeng Qinghong (曾慶紅), China's vice-chairman and member of the standing committee of the Politburo, would hear nothing of high-level autonomy for Hong Kong, insisting instead on being personally involved in its affairs. Hong Kong, however, had Western-style democracy for more than a century. Zeng is still finding it difficult to prevent its residents from striving for freedom and to break their desire for freedom and democracy.
Zeng's so-called united front policy in Hong Kong can be broken down into three main points. First, the united front of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) primarily seeks to differentiate friend from foe. Liu Yangdong (劉延東), head of the united front, visited Hong Kong in May and took part in many events. These included activities put on for senior citizens but that totally excluded those who are part of the democratic movement. The excuse given for this was that there was no time. The reality is that the democratic movement had been earmarked as an enemy that has to be destroyed.
Second, with regard to their enemies, they are attempting a dual tactic of attack and division. On the one hand, they sought to isolate the figures of the traditional democracy movement, such as Martin Lee (李柱銘), Szeto Wah (司徒華), Emily Lau (劉慧卿) and Margaret Ng (吳靄儀), labelling them "ultra-stubborn." On the other hand, they sought to lure new pro-democracy figures into the fold after the 1997 handover, most notably lawyers like Audrey Eu (余若薇), Ronny Tong (湯家驊) and Edward Chan (陳景生), and the Catholic Bishop Joseph Zen (陳日君).
Third, Beijing is using permits to allow people to return to their hometowns in China, as well as promoting freedom of travel as part of their strategy of division. This is intended to stimulate economic activity in Hong Kong and to set Beijing up as a benefactor, driving a wedge between Hong Kongers and the pro-democracy faction. It is unclear how the investment and spending of Hong Kong residents in mainland China compares with that of Chinese residents with the freedom of travel. Regardless, if people from Hong Kong are to be given freedom of travel within China, mainland Chinese people should equally be given permission to travel in Hong Kong. Doesn't Beijing realize that Hong Kong residents are more than economic animals whose basic rights can be bought off?
Many residents of Hong Kong moved there from the mainland following the communist takeover in 1949, and have witnessed the many inhumane acts perpetrated by the government over the years. They cannot be taken in so easily. These immigrants had originally seen themselves as transients. Under British rule, however, they came to know the value of freedom. As such, they now stand up and want the territory's governance in the hands of the people -- to be their own masters.
During this massive protest, Beijing combined a hard and soft approach to Hong Kong's democracy movement. It is unlikely that they will be too strong-armed in the run-up to the September elections for fear of losing local votes. They will, nevertheless, continue to use these dual tactics.
The people of Hong Kong face a tough road to democracy if they are to maintain their spirited resistance to Beijing. Still, they must prepare for the worst. After all, the CCP is more like a criminal gang than a civilized government.
Paul Lin is a political commentator based in New York.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER
A series of strong earthquakes in Hualien County not only caused severe damage in Taiwan, but also revealed that China’s power has permeated everywhere. A Taiwanese woman posted on the Internet that she found clips of the earthquake — which were recorded by the security camera in her home — on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. It is spine-chilling that the problem might be because the security camera was manufactured in China. China has widely collected information, infringed upon public privacy and raised information security threats through various social media platforms, as well as telecommunication and security equipment. Several former TikTok employees revealed
At the same time as more than 30 military aircraft were detected near Taiwan — one of the highest daily incursions this year — with some flying as close as 37 nautical miles (69kms) from the northern city of Keelung, China announced a limited and selected relaxation of restrictions on Taiwanese agricultural exports and tourism, upon receiving a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation led by KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁). This demonstrates the two-faced gimmick of China’s “united front” strategy. Despite the strongest earthquake to hit the nation in 25 years striking Hualien on April 3, which caused
President-elect William Lai (賴清德) is to accede to the presidency this month at a time when the international order is in its greatest flux in three decades. Lai must navigate the ship of state through the choppy waters of an assertive China that is refusing to play by the rules, challenging the territorial claims of multiple nations and increasing its pressure on Taiwan. It is widely held in democratic capitals that Taiwan is important to the maintenance and survival of the liberal international order. Taiwan is strategically located, hemming China’s People’s Liberation Army inside the first island chain, preventing it from
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past