Today Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa (
It is interesting to examine the reasons for the change. The primary one seems to be that by removing civil servants from the forging of policy and confining their role to its implementation, only the government will thereby safeguard administrative neutrality, protect civil servants from political pressure and make policymakers themselves more accountable for their actions.
This is of course nonsense. The 14 "ministers" are accountable to nobody except Tung himself. Neither Hong Kong's people nor its legislature had any say in their appointment. What in fact the move does is to take policymaking out of the hands of professional civil servants whose jobs are protected in such a way as that they can say no to Tung, and put it in the hands of Tung cronies. This will certainly strengthen the position of the thoroughly disliked Tung over the territory's government.
As a "reform" it simply makes a mockery of the word. It is simply a plan to pull the teeth of the civil service, which has been protective of the independence and professionalism it had under British rule and has been slow to dance to Beijing's tune. The undermining and eventual destruction of Anson Chan (
Delights in store for the people of Hong Kong over the next five years include new laws on secession and subversion, and the banning of local political groups from contact with foreign organizations. Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen (
Much of the commentary concerning this melancholy anniversary has been along the lines of "it could have been a lot worse." Maybe, but not without seriously damaging Hong Kong economically. The territory is being run by an unelected clique of tycoons without a shred of accountability to anyone except their equally unelected political masters in Beijing. The system is actually less accountable now than it was under British colonial rule.
How is this going to appeal to the people of Taiwan? We ask this question because, of course, Hong Kong was supposed to be the showcase that proved that "one country, two systems" was viable. The lesson that watching five years of Chinese rule of Hong Kong has taught us is that Beijing will immediately dissolve your legislature and reelect it on a limited franchise calculated to produce "acceptable" results. It will then impose upon you a leader you did not choose, who will surround himself with toadies and cronies that cannot be removed except on his say so. It will insist that you pass laws limiting freedom of speech and criminalizing some areas of legitimate political discussion -- the question of secession, for example -- and give its favored cronies like Sally Aw immunity from prosecution.
Does this sound like anything? To us it sounds like the detestable KMT regime of the Chiangs of infamous memory. It has taken us a decade and a half of effort to consign that to history. Why would we want to live with it again?
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