As a boy in Hong Kong, I enjoyed taking a short trip on the
iconic Star Ferry from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. Even after migrating to
Australia, I have always made it my mission to take at least one trip on the
Star Ferry whenever I was in Hong Kong. It was on such a trip that I first saw
Hong Kong people calling for democracy.
In 1989 while studying at the Queensland University I
mourned with my fellow students for protesters in Beijing. This was a watershed
for Hong Kongers. The day after the massacre, a million people (one in four)
marched on Hong Kong streets in protest. It is hard to imagine that the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) would not have taken notice.
Prior to the massacre, the CCP sidelined the party’s
democratic reformers like Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang. Zhao was placed in home detention
until his death. After the massacre the CCP realised that they needed to
re-brand themselves (Clive Hamilton’s “Silent Invasion”). Then CCP not only
continue with their shift to market economy but also replaced Marxist-Leninist
ideology with extreme nationalism. Every school child was brain washed to
identify the CCP as China. Not being faithful to the CCP means not being
patriotic. The CCP also emphasis the humiliation of the Chinese people at the
hand’s foreigners. The CCP taught that historic events like the Sino-British
Opium war and the Eight-Nation Alliance were a blight to China that a strong
CCP/China would erase thus making China great again. (Never mind that Mao
inspired Great Leap Forward and the Cultural have killed far more than any
conflict with European nations.) It is in this context that Australia’s fate is
now linked to Hong Kong. As part of CCP’s dream to make China great again, the
CCP use their United front tactic. The result of these tactics has been well
documented in the Australian media. For the CCP the new China will replace
freedom with stability, law with ethics and democracy with enlightened rule
(Clive Hamilton’s “Silent Invasion”). But even a quick survey of a number of
Chinese dynasties will tell you that stability, ethics and enlightened rule do
not work. And the CCP does not even have an imperial examination system to
ensure good governance. In “Flyswats and Tight Traps” John Fitzgerald pointed
out that China’s president Xi, at the beginning of his rule has to resort to anti-corruption campaign to rein
in corrupt cadres not doing bidding of party central. However, there is no guarantee
that the corruption will not return.
Without the rule of law, independent judiciary and proper governing
system, China will be like a boat in a rough sea where the crew rushes between corruption
and political campaign. Ironically, Xi and his loyal servant Carrie Lam are
hellbent in destroying Hong Kong – the goose that have been laying the gold
that has raised the living standard of everyone in the mainland.
Even worse the very thing that the CCP hates, freedom, is what
distinguish Hong Kong from every other mainland cites. Many mainliners would
point out the advances of cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen will make Hong Kong
unnecessary. The broadcaster Richard Harris debunk this by arguing that Hong
Kong has the rule-of-law and freedom of speech. How can investors have
confidence when face with an opaque system?
It is certainly true that Hong Kong people are resilient but
ultimately the ball is in Xi’s court. The standoff can be resolved if Xi will
direct Lam to implement the five demands of: withdraw of the extradition bill
(already done), retract the label of “riot”, release imprisoned protesters,
independent investigation of police conduct and finally universal suffrage. The
demand for universal suffrage was promised in Hong Kong constitution – the basic
law and there is no excuse to deprive Hong Kong anymore.
For centuries, Chinese
rules have persisted with ethics and enlightened rule to find their Gates of
Heavenly Peace (Tiananmen) but they have all been thwarted by the reality of the
human condition. The Ming dynasty didn’t collapse because of foreign
interference (the Manchus). The Ming collapsed because of internal discontent.
The west did not wake up one day to democracy, rule of law
and human rights. It has taken over 800 years to travel from the Magna Carter
to our modern democracy. It is time for China to try something new. Finally,
Sun yat-sen , the father of modern China enshrined democracy in his Three
Principles of the People so Xi has no excuse.
