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Alex Lo
SCMP Columnist
My Take
by Alex Lo
My Take
by Alex Lo

The universal suffrage debate is sinking into a blame game

Even innovative devices like 'one country two systems' guaranteed in the Basic Law may fail, a Beijing official warned.

Even innovative devices like 'one country two systems' guaranteed in the Basic Law may fail, a Beijing official warned.

We always knew that, but it's still scary to hear it spoken out loud by Zhang Rongshun, the vice-chairman of the Legislative Affairs Commission under the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

"We understand any new system may succeed but could also fail," said Zhang in Beijing at a forum on the Basic Law.

"We strongly believe the Basic Law's innovative system could succeed, but eventually we have to let the facts speak."

It's a rare remark because Beijing has always insisted on the success and uniqueness of "one country two systems", thanks to the genius of the late Deng Xiaoping .

Except for its name, Zhang is quite wrong to say "one country two systems" is an innovation. It is not. Devolved power given to cities, territories and provinces as a political solution is nothing new. The latest example is the so-called "devolution max", which convinced enough voters in Scotland not to leave the British union.

Zhang of course covered himself by saying he believed the Basic Law and its fundamental principles would prevail.

But some parts of its implementation have not been satisfactory.

Presumably, these include the expected failure of the Hong Kong government to secure passage of its electoral reform package in the Legislative Council, and to implement security laws under Article 23.

Everyone is now preparing for the post-veto era when pan-democrats are expected to vote down the government's electoral reform package in the legislature. People are positioning themselves to better blame opponents for denying universal suffrage to Hong Kong people.

So it's in this context that we should understand Zhang's remarks. Statesmen will try to find a way out of the impasse, and show people a viable path to get there. Some well-meaning and intelligent people have tried; unfortunately, they are not political leaders. We have mostly political pygmies in both the pan-democratic and pro-Beijing camps now.

So let the blame game begin.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Reform debate sinks into mire of blame
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