The public should already know that China’s “one country, two systems” is pure fraud. Still, the story of how Hong Kong was caught in Beijing’s trap is history that the Taiwanese public needs to know.
It was not the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) first threat to the future of Hong Kong when former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) during the 1982 China-UK negotiations said that China could take it by force.
When former Hong Kong governor Robert Black in 1958 took up the post, after having helped reach an agreement on Singapore’s self-governance, then-Chinese premier Zhou Enlai (周恩來) warned him not to attempt to lead Hong Kong down the Singaporean path. The 1967 Hong Kong riots that followed the start of the Cultural Revolution and ideological “united front” work is evidence that Beijing’s policy was calculated.
In the 1970s, the idea that Hong Kong’s prosperity originated from national shame became widespread in society as an extension of the view of China-Hong Kong relations constructed by textbooks on Chinese history.
This concept, known as “knowing China and caring for society” (認中關社), gradually pushed many Hong Kongers toward the view that a “return” to China was reasonable.
One of the people behind this push was Szeto Wah (司徒華), the founder of Hong Kong’s United Democrats, which later transformed into the Democratic Party. Another was Lau Nai-keung (劉迺強), a Hong Kong member of the Chinese People’s Political and Consultative Conference who died last year.
Lau founded political group Meeting Point (匯點) in 1983 on the eve of China-UK talks. Capitalizing on the trend of “knowing China and caring for society,” Lau spread the illusion that China would make political progress based on Deng’s “reform and openness” policy, leading Hong Kongers to believe that the return would bring democracy to China. That was when Hong Kong fell into the trap set by Beijing.
Ironically, apart from Lau, the vast majority of Meeting Point members have joined the CCP camp since 1997. When it comes to problems between Hong Kong and China, such as a milk powder shortage and Chinese tourists harassing local communities, the Democratic Party never sides with local residents, but despite public resentment, it is too late to do anything about it now.
This historical overview highlights many similarities with Taiwan. Verbal and military threats are tangible, so it is possible to take precautions. Some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members are repeating Szeto’s and Lau’s mistakes, but they are easier to expose because they are less clever about it or because Hong Kong serves as a lesson. However, the KMT’s gains in the Nov. 24 local elections caused Taiwan to change political color from pan-green to pan-blue.
The election of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) showed that Taiwanese lack defenses against the CCP’s “united front” infiltration and they cannot see that the crisis is already upon them. That is even more worrisome than Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) malicious talk.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her administration’s toughness will be in vain if Taiwanese continue to act like the Hong Kongers who 30 or 40 years ago failed to prevent the CCP’s “united front” tactics.
Taiwan is not the property of Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party, it belongs to all Taiwanese. They must all unite to resist the CCP and prevent someone on the inside from letting in the enemy.
Jackie Lim is a Hong Kong-based political commentator.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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