The promise the Chinese government made to Britain and to the world as Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control at midnight on June 30 1997 that China would abide by the one country two systems plan which would afford Hong Kong greater autonomy except in matters of foreign relations and defense was to last 50 years.
That promise is falling 33 years short of fulfillment.
The communist government in Beijing has been nipping at the edges of Hong Kongs freedoms for some time but last Sunday it decided to take a bigger bite. Writes The New York Times Chinas legislature laid down strict limits ... to proposed voting reforms in Hong Kong pushing back against months of rallies calling for free democratic elections. The strict limits include new guidelines for nominating candidates which means Beijing would choose who runs the citys government.
A deputy secretary general of the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee Li Fei was quoted by the Times as saying future candidates must declare that they love the country and love Hong Kong. Li Fei contends the new restrictions will protect the broad stability of Hong Kong now and in the future.
Stability is often invoked by the Chinese government to repress dissent and was also cited as justification for the mass murder of pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square on June 4 1989.
I was in Hong Kong for the 1997 handover ceremony. There was guarded optimism that Beijing would allow the city to continue to enjoy the kind of freedom unique among totalitarian states. At the time I wrote: Many are more cautious than optimistic about this dynamic citys future under a government that has demonstrated at Tiananmen Square that it will kill its own citizens if it ever feels threatened.
Martin Lee founding chairman of Hong Kongs Democratic Party told me that doing nothing in the face of threats to freedom ensures those freedoms will be lost: Its wrong to be worried to be afraid and to give up your freedoms. Let them take them away from us if thats what they want. We must not ourselves surrender our freedoms.
Any erosion of Hong Kongs freedom I wrote in 97 was likely to be gradual and so it has been. With America in retreat around the world lacking a definable foreign policy and with the British a mere shadow of their former empirical selves whats to stop China from escalating that erosion?
Martin Lee told me that no amount of external pressure will stop Chinas leaders from doing what they want to do if they feel threatened: Tiananmen teaches the lengths the Chinese leaders will go to preserve their power. China was doing well economically before the massacres and yet when the leaders felt jeopardized by the opposition they brought in the tanks and soldiers and started to shoot and kill and ruined their own economy for three years. Of course the Hong Kong goose is important to them. So is Taiwan. But they are only secondary (to) the main objective -- which is to remain in power. If they believe their position is jeopardized by an internal struggle for power they would sacrifice anything including the goose.
Some including me expressed hope that Hong Kongs freedom might eventually lead to Chinas liberation from communism. Maybe it will in the long run but that possibility seems a long way off. Those pro-democracy demonstrators must now decide whether to continue their protests running the risk of another Tiananmen or submit to the dictatorship.
As for the broken promise of one country two systems it should surprise no one that communists and other dictators lie.
Cal Thomas is co-author (with Bob Beckel) of the book Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America.
The promise the Chinese government made to Britain and to the world as Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control at midnight on June 30 1997 that China would abide by the one country two systems plan which would afford Hong Kong greater autonomy except in matters of foreign relations and defense was to last 50 years.
That promise is falling 33 years short of fulfillment.
The communist government in Beijing has been nipping at the edges of Hong Kongs freedoms for some time but last Sunday it decided to take a bigger bite. Writes The New York Times Chinas legislature laid down strict limits ... to proposed voting reforms in Hong Kong pushing back against months of rallies calling for free democratic elections. The strict limits include new guidelines for nominating candidates which means Beijing would choose who runs the citys government.
A deputy secretary general of the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee Li Fei was quoted by the Times as saying future candidates must declare that they love the country and love Hong Kong. Li Fei contends the new restrictions will protect the broad stability of Hong Kong now and in the future.
Stability is often invoked by the Chinese government to repress dissent and was also cited as justification for the mass murder of pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square on June 4 1989.
I was in Hong Kong for the 1997 handover ceremony. There was guarded optimism that Beijing would allow the city to continue to enjoy the kind of freedom unique among totalitarian states. At the time I wrote: Many are more cautious than optimistic about this dynamic citys future under a government that has demonstrated at Tiananmen Square that it will kill its own citizens if it ever feels threatened.
Martin Lee founding chairman of Hong Kongs Democratic Party told me that doing nothing in the face of threats to freedom ensures those freedoms will be lost: Its wrong to be worried to be afraid and to give up your freedoms. Let them take them away from us if thats what they want. We must not ourselves surrender our freedoms.
Any erosion of Hong Kongs freedom I wrote in 97 was likely to be gradual and so it has been. With America in retreat around the world lacking a definable foreign policy and with the British a mere shadow of their former empirical selves whats to stop China from escalating that erosion?
Martin Lee told me that no amount of external pressure will stop Chinas leaders from doing what they want to do if they feel threatened: Tiananmen teaches the lengths the Chinese leaders will go to preserve their power. China was doing well economically before the massacres and yet when the leaders felt jeopardized by the opposition they brought in the tanks and soldiers and started to shoot and kill and ruined their own economy for three years. Of course the Hong Kong goose is important to them. So is Taiwan. But they are only secondary (to) the main objective -- which is to remain in power. If they believe their position is jeopardized by an internal struggle for power they would sacrifice anything including the goose.
Some including me expressed hope that Hong Kongs freedom might eventually lead to Chinas liberation from communism. Maybe it will in the long run but that possibility seems a long way off. Those pro-democracy demonstrators must now decide whether to continue their protests running the risk of another Tiananmen or submit to the dictatorship.
As for the broken promise of one country two systems it should surprise no one that communists and other dictators lie.
Cal Thomas is co-author (with Bob Beckel) of the book Common Ground: How to Stop the Partisan War That is Destroying America.
