HK Observer | Shifting Sands

Robert Carroll

Isn’t it great to have a new force in politics here after so many years of stalemate; in this case the youth? For so long voters have been mainly divided between the middle class pro-democracy parties, up against  Party members and friends combined with business community representatives, as well as the bussed-in-here’s-who-you-vote-for old folks who get dinners and presents for voting pro-China DAB – and, not forgetting the fringe – the radicals. Now the young have a voice as elected district councilors and are standing up for autonomy and rejecting the radicals. Sands are shifting.
In a very unfair playing field they have managed to get into positions of political power, not just to have local influence but in sufficient numbers to put forward a candidate for the so-called super seats, Legislative Council members voted in by the whole electorate, who because of this can claim more legitimacy for their mandates.
It remains a shame that the pro-establishment parties are able to wield huge resources against the bunch of idealistic lawyers and their volunteers who largely make up the pro-democracy  camp.
It is a pity too that after so many years – since the 1990’s – that the pro-democracy camp has not been able to combine majority local support with an ability to engage Beijing. There  are some signs that the new faces in politics here may be able to re-think the Hong Kong- China relationship for the better, but it will very much an uphill struggle unless without a watershed shifting of attitudes in the corridors of power over the border.
The ancient given in China of kowtowing to the emperor and his officials has long gone in Hong Kong. The attitude of subservience to higher authority exists in the workplace – obey your boss or else – albeit reluctantly and resentfully, but not towards government. To address the reality and get locals on their side Chinese officials must step down from the traditional paternalistic approach to rule. Hong Kongers, especially the young, do not accept to be children under the mandate of heaven’s representative on Earth – the Communist Party of China – they want to be treated as equals. Leaving aside the special case of Taiwan, they are part of the two most successful autonomous regions of China – the other is of course Macau – which are  far more developed in many ways than their counterpart cities on the mainland. So isn’t it, and hasn’t it long been a reality, that Hong Kong needs to wooed not threatened or coerced into what was a most dreaded remerging?
However local citizens need to bear in mind that it’s a fait accompli and an inevitable conclusion of history that the city will return to China and is part of China. Even if the then government of China, the Kuomintang nationalists, had won the civil war the result would have been the same, and quite possibly soon after the second World War; that was the declared aim of the KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek.
On the other hand Beijing must accept that this is a very different Chinese society here, needing considerable courting; while Hong Kongers need to find a modus vivendi with the mainland. That means mutual respect. There has been far too much talk – and threatening – about how Hong Kongers should bend to the needs of the motherland.
Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau investment and business acumen were largely responsible for the huge leap forwards in economic development of China from the opening up in 1979.
Commencing with the creation of the free trade zone in Shenzen and Zuhai, expanding into Guangdong, the province became the factory of the world, the engine of economic growth of China for decades. The mainland has long opened the doors through law and by providing locations and manpower. It’s been a partnership. Let partners talk as partners; the time of paternalism has gone. So, Hong Kongers must accept, has the dream of separation.