Final showdown over universal

suffrage is nearing
2013 年 03 月 25 日 00:14

Almost 16 years after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty, the interface
between the city and the hinterland has been riddled with increasingly sharp
contradictions at the socio-economic and political fronts.

The recent outburst of a feeling of dismay, verging on anger, among senior

Chinese officials and media and people in the mainland towards the city’s curbs
on milk powder is just the tip of an iceberg of discontent.

From the perspective of the mainland, Hong Kong should be full of thankfulness
to them for giving a big helping hand to the city’s economy and livelihood by
coming here to spend. Ordinary mainland citizens can be forgiven for feeling
infuriated when they are taken to court for taking more than two cans of milk
powder across the border.

It would be even worse if they are wrongly charged by the Hong Kong
government due to their hastiness in rushing through the legislative curbs on
ground of a shortage of supply of infant formula for Hongkongers.

They feel increasingly unhappy their contributions to Hong Kong’s economic

development have not been well appreciated. Instead, they have been blamed for
causing and worsening a list of economic and livelihood problems in Hong Kong.
They include a surge of property prices and a shortfall of milk powder supply to
congestion in public transport and illicit parallel trading in districts near the border.

The longstanding political contradictions between the mainland and Hong Kong
grew sharper in the recent past.

On Sunday, a senior National People’s Congress official has dashed hopes for
genuine universal suffrage among Hong Kong people. Qiao Xiaoyang, chairman
of the NPC’s legal affairs commission, said Beijing would not accept a chief
executive who confronts against the central authorities. He reportedly reiterated
that the chief executive should “love China, love Hong Kong.”
Qiao did not seem to have elaborated what confrontation and “love China, love
Hong Kong” meant at a meeting with a group of pro-government legislators in
Shenzhen.

Meanwhile, Qiao hinted that the nominating committee for the universal suffrage
for the chief executive in 2017 would pick candidates through “democratic
procedures” as laid down in the Basic Law, only from whom all eligible voters can
pick to become their leader.

The move by the senior NPC official to set out the political benchmarks such as
“love China, love Hong Kong” and legislative vetting process through the
nominating body was made as the pan-democratic force has re-grouped under a
new coalition to fight for universal suffrage. Also importantly, the so-called
“Occupy Central” movement aimed to galvanize pubic support for genuine
universal suffrage has been gaining momentum.

Instead of forging quiet talk with the pan-democrats for compromise, Beijing has
opted for a hardened stance and tough tactic through an early declaration of their
bottom-line, which is aimed to dampen public support for the democrats’
campaign.

Qiao’s remarks, made less than a week after the leading group of Hong Kong
policy under the new Xi Jinping leadership started working, reflect a sea of
anxiety among party’s top echelon towards the city.

Although there will be risks of a further rise of political temperature, Beijing feels
adamant the earlier they set out clearly their bottom-line of democracy in Hong
Kong the better for both sides.

That will prove to be a big political gamble as growing tensions in mainland-Hong

Kong relations are set to make the political tussle between Beijing and the city
over the 2017 universal suffrage fiercer and more confrontational.

Speaking in Shenzhen on Sunday, Qiao said Beijing and the Hong Kong
government have already shown the highest degree of accommodation towards
the city’s opposition, adding their tolerance is not unlimited.

To the pan-democrats and supporters for democracy in Hong Kong, they also feel
strongly they have shown the highest degree of tolerance and patience over the
delay in universal suffrage. That the “Occupy Central” movement has gained
more support shows their tolerance and patience is wearing thin.

At a pre-retirement media session last year, retired Court of Final Appeal judge
Justice Bokhary has warned of a “storm of unprecedented ferocity” over the city’s
rule of law.

Dark clouds, meanwhile, are also hanging over the city’s democratic movement
with the promise of universal suffrage to Hong Kong after its reversion to Chinese
rule soon facing the reality check.

Lamented the wide gulf between the city and the mainland more than 15 years
after the handover, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has vowed to promote the
notion of “internal diplomacy”, under which the city should intensify efforts to
foster ties and boost mutual understanding with the mainland.

It could not be more ironic that even before his “internal diplomacy” drive bears
fruit relations across the borders are nearing a boiling point, casting a long
shadow over the experiment of peaceful co-existence of two different systems
under one country.