Most Hong Kong people know independence for the city isn’t practicable, so why overreact to a minority opinion?
Mike Rowse says officials in both the Hong Kong and Beijing governments are making a mountain out of a molehill over independence calls from a small group
I am obviously going to have to study this Hong Kong “independence/nationality” issue a lot harder because so far I have been unable to understand what all the fuss is about.
Hong Kong is a part of China and always has been. Historically, geographically, ethnically, culturally, in every way you can imagine, our city is connected to and is part of its natural hinterland. Because of well-known historical factors, we developed in slightly different ways from the mainland, but these differences are well covered by the “one country, two systems” formula.
Our situation is totally unlike that of our usual comparator Singapore, which has no natural hinterland and is a modern industrial city where Buddhists and Christians together make up over half the population, surrounded by two large, predominantly Muslim agricultural societies.
Beijing slams creation of Hong Kong independence party, saying it endangers national security
This suggestion was greeted by a tsunami of criticism from the central government in Beijing, from the head of its local liaison office and from no fewer than three of our most senior officials (chief executive, chief secretary, secretary for justice) plus the leftist press and sundry commentators of similar ilk. Such a suggestion was “contrary to the Basic Law”, it “undermined national security”, it was an “insult to the country’s dignity”, it was an “idea proposed by foreigners to attack China” and so on.