The Hong Kong of East-West fusion has just died. Without this Hong Kong, the city’s high finance won’t be long. Neither its culture, nor its media, nor anything that made Hong Kong such an exceptional place. Hong Kong is dead for good, because of the new electoral law passed this week in Beijing.
The democratic movement has become a forbidden dream. All Western freedoms there were already seriously threatened by the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. They now have no chance of resisting the totalitarian dictatorship of Xi Jinping. It must be said that the Chinese government began to destroy Hong Kong more than 40 years ago.
When did the Chinese government start attacking Hong Kong?
The Chinese government began attacking Hong Kong in 1979, with the creation of Shenzhen. Shenzhen was then a large fishing village located across the border from Hong Kong. At that time, the Chinese government decided to make it a special economic zone, a kind of laboratory where he would learn how to do international trade, from building hotels to building shoe and clothing factories, by the way. through the establishment of modern regulations. Little by little, Shenzhen’s exports went upmarket. The city has grown. Now, Shenzhen is more populous, richer and more modern than Hong Kong. To the point where, now, young Hong Kong people cross the border to find work.
Has the Chinese government violated the 1997 Hong Kong treaty?
According to the Hong Kong treaty signed with the United Kingdom, the Chinese government was only to deal with foreign policy and the defense of the city. The rest was to remain under exclusive Hong Kong jurisdiction until 2047. But the Chinese government broke the terms of the treaty and interfered more and more in internal Hong Kong affairs. This interference is at the origin of the anger of the majority of the population of Hong Kong and the rise of the Hong Kong democratic movements.
Who are Hong Kong’s other rivals?
Hong Kong owes its wealth to the capital that fled the communist regime, especially those from Shanghai and Guangdong province. Hong Kong began to lose its power in the 1990s when the Chinese government modernized Shanghai to make it the financial and industrial center of China. A few years later, the modernization of the city of Canton and its sprawling development around the mouth of the Pearl River eventually reached Hong Kong. Even without the vile security law and the new electoral law, Hong Kong was doomed to wither away.
What does the new electoral law contain?
According to what we know, it will allow Beijing to choose the candidates for the elections in addition to appointing a good part of the deputies.
What lessons should we learn from Hong Kong?
Hong Kong’s recent history is filled with lessons. Let us retain three of them. First, Chinese authorities are quick to change the rules to their advantage when they feel strong enough to do so. Second, these authorities plan for the very long term, several moves in advance. Third, the Chinese leadership fear democracy and will do anything to destroy it not only in China, but elsewhere in the world.