The fourth anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China came and went quietly on Sunday. Not that there was much to celebrate, but it is unlike China to pass up a golden opportunity to exalt Chinese nationalism and unification through extravagant and tasteless ceremonies. Many are speculating that the honeymoon between Beijing and Hong Kong is officially over. If that is the case, the once confident and brassy Hong Kong is likely to go downhill at an even faster rate in the days to come.
Over the past four years, Hong Kong's autonomy and freedoms have been severely eroded. On the eve of this year's handover anniversary, the Hong Kong Journalists Association released a report criticizing the decay of freedoms and autonomy.
Four years under Chinese rule have also taken their toll on the people of Hong Kong. An survey published last Saturday by the University of Hong Kong found that 68 percent of people in the territory believe it is worse off under Chinese rule than it was as a colony and that 60 percent of people were not proud of becoming Chinese citizens, compared to 45 percent just before the handover.
The signs of Hong Kong's debasement are clear for all to see. Chief executive Tung Chee-hwa (
The temper tantrum staged by China's President Jiang Zemin (
Meanwhile, the territory's once-vaunted judiciary has been hamstrung by the government's willingness to seek input from and defer to Beijing on controversial issues.
On the economic side, the outlook for Hong Kong is bleak. China is intensifying its efforts to develop Shanghai so it can replace Hong Kong as the "pearl of the orient." The newly-erected Oriental Pearl TV Tower (
However, Shanghai can't really replace Hong Kong because it lacks a deep-water seaport, the free flow of information and an English-language culture. Nevertheless, many Japanese and British businesses have moved from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Part of the reason for this exodus is the stranglehold over Hong Kong's economy of an oligarchy of businessmen such as Li Ka Shing (
The territory's government seems unable to cope. Democratic Alliance chairman Tsang Yok Sing (
In this light it is unforgivable that some pro-unification politicians in Taiwan have the audacity to advocate this nation accept China's "one country, two systems" scheme -- even though the latest poll by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed 75 percent of respondents are against the idea. Haven't these politicians learned anything from Hong Kong's travails? The people of Taiwan apparently have.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
Ursula K. le Guin in The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas proposed a thought experiment of a utopian city whose existence depended on one child held captive in a dungeon. When taken to extremes, Le Guin suggests, utilitarian logic violates some of our deepest moral intuitions. Even the greatest social goods — peace, harmony and prosperity — are not worth the sacrifice of an innocent person. Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), since leaving office, has lived an odyssey that has brought him to lows like Le Guin’s dungeon. From late 2008 to 2015 he was imprisoned, much of this
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and