Seven ways Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam can please Beijing and the people

Andrew Leung suggests tasks for the city’s new leader so as to maintain the delicate balance between ‘one country’ and ‘two systems’, which would help to extend its lifespan beyond the 50 years promised

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 5:20pm, 10 Jul 2017Updated: 6:49pm, 10 Jul 2017

Carrie Lam has vowed to fulfil her responsibilities to make “one country, two systems” work, including through better relations with Beijing. Can she deliver? Illustration: Craig Stephens

President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hard-hitting speech on July 1 on how “one country, two systems” should be implemented has raised worrying eyebrows. Will the “two systems” increasingly tilt towards the “one country”?

President Xi Jinping’s four key points for moving forward under ‘one country, two systems’

In her inauguration speech, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor vowed to comprehensively fulfil her responsibilities to make “one country, two systems” work, including through better relations with the central government. Notwithstanding her legendary abilities, can she deliver a mission almost impossible? Hong Kong’s society remains severely fractured, with the younger generations possessing little sense of nationhood.

Relations with Beijing were much smoother during the first decade after the handover. The central government carefully guarded Hong Kong’s autonomy. Why have things changed?

One reason is that, as a natural development, Hong Kong and the mainland have become much more interconnected, with a massive upsurge of mainland visitors and capital. As a result, the inherent contradictions of “one country, two systems” have surfaced, raising the cost of living and doing business, including land prices, compromising Hong Kong’s quality of life.

Hongkongers quality of life on the rise according to survey

A protester carries a yellow umbrella, a symbol of the 2014 Occupy Central pro-democracy protests, as Hongkongers march on the streets during the annual July 1 rally in Hong Kong. Photo: AP

Hong Kong must get to grips with the political reality

Another reason is Hong Kong’s perceived worsening “democratic deficit”, notwithstanding international accolades about its economic and personal freedoms. A non-popularly-elected government seems to be bending towards Beijing rather than the aspirations of the people. Certain recent acts by Beijing perceived to compromise Hong Kong’s autonomy have deepened the mistrust.

Adding fuel to the fire are growing inequality, declining upward mobility, and protracted problems of housing, pension protection, labour and education.

It’s no wonder that many Hong Kong residents, especially the young and restless, have become alienated, if not hostile towards Beijing. The young, especially, feel uneasy, uncertain about what is to become of “one country, two systems” beyond 2047. This has spawned campaigns for localism and self-determinism that have been gaining momentum, including some calls for independence.

The latter touch a raw nerve with Beijing. At stake are existential implications not just for Hong Kong but for the whole nation, including Taiwan, Xinjiang (新疆) and Tibet ( 西藏 ). It’s no surprise that President Xi did not mince words warning against the “absolutely impermissible” acts that cross the nation’s red line.

Watch: Xi Jinping on ‘one country, two systems’

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