Comment›Insight & Opinion

Independent Hong Kong isn't on anyone's agenda

Victor Fung Keung says people are just resorting to extreme means to vent their frustrations

Wednesday, 14 November, 2012, 3:16am

Victor Fung Keung

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Fear not; there is no independence force, or virus spreading in Hong Kong. People are just resorting to extreme means to vent their frustrations. Photo: SCMP

Chen Zuoer, the former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing and a key negotiator during the 1997 handover, said recently that "a force calling for Hong Kong independence has been gaining momentum in recent years, and it has spread like a virus".

He needn't worry; there is no independence force, or virus.

Not for an instant would I or hundreds of others ever believe that an independence movement could take root in this city. Our water, fuel and food - without which we couldn't survive - all come from the mainland. Physically or politically, Hong Kong could never become independent.

Chen, an extremely patriotic Chinese citizen, can rest easy. No political party in Hong Kong ever talks of the slight possibility of an independent Hong Kong, and their political platforms, including those of the powerful Democratic Party and Civic Party, never offer hints that advocating independence is one of their goals.

I am also pretty sure none of the major think tanks in Hong Kong has called on the city to go its own way.

So why did Chen make such an alarmist statement? The timing of his warning betrays him, coming when he was in Hong Kong last month to launch a book, Negotiations on The Handover of Sovereignty of Hong Kong: A Witness Recount, in which he shares his experiences of the Sino-British negotiations over Hong Kong's future.

Most middle- and working-class Hongkongers, myself included, cherish the stable political, social and economic environment that enables us to make a living.

No one in this prosperous world city wants to start a revolution. Tycoons such as Li Ka-shing and Lee Shau-kee also love a stable Hong Kong so local and foreign investors will continue buying properties and boosting their profits.

Chen, who retired in 2008, also told a reporter that he was "heartbroken" to see a picture of a Hong Kong colonial flag being waved by a protester in Sheung Shui shouting at "parallel traders" to "return to the mainland".

However, this was an isolated case. Sheung Shui residents say they have grown weary of hordes of cross-border professional shoppers pushing up the prices of milk powder and other daily commodities, and so resort to extreme means to drive home their point - such as wearing "Satan" masks or waving colonial flags. These are just expressions of anger, nothing more.

As long as we can enjoy the freedoms promised to us in the Basic Law, no one will waste their time and energy in fighting for an independent Hong Kong.

Victor Fung Keung, a local commentator who has published seven books on English enhancement, is co-ordinator of the B.S.Sc in financial journalism programme at Hong Kong Baptist University

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as An independent HK is not on anyone's agenda

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This article is now closed to comments

A Hong Konger Nov 14th 2012
2:22pm

The last paragraph is telling: "As long as we can enjoy the freedoms promised to us in the Basic Law, no one will waste their time and energy in fighting for an independent Hong Kong." There can be little doubt, however, our freedoms are under attack as China continuously attempts to integrate us into the PRC. An act requiring the destruction of our identity, culture and way of life, offering us instead a state defined ethnic nationalism of 'Chineseness' that no one can actually articulate. Philosophically a HK independence movement is inevitable as it is within China's interest to integrate us which requires the destruction of our identity, culture freedoms and financial muscle, something we grow increasingly indignant of. We are a settlement colony under China rather than an economic one under Britain.
Victor Fung Keung represents the old paradigm of thinking; beg to maintain the status quo while denying that it must one day end. This thinking is giving way to the realisation that no amount of placating Beijing will ever preserve our way of life, our strengthening identity and diminishing freedoms, coupled with peoples increasing alienation from society and an uncertain future, lead us to reject the colonial status quo and seek to control our own destiny. The alternative is HK's destruction. The PRC cannot deny this inevitability as fear works for only so long. Should China threaten access to water, fuel and power we will overcome we have in the past. We are resilient.

Sunny Nov 14th 2012
11:11am

‘Freedom’ is one of the basic necessities for our happiness so we should continue to exercise that right (including the waving of whatever flag we like) and is the right for all people to have, including the Chinese friends over the border in the mainland which they are still fighting for.
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