My Take | Protect our autonomy rather than push for independence
Catalonia is a textbook example for Hong Kong of where a push to break away from a sovereign power can lead, while Puerto Rico shows what the loss of autonomy really looks like
Hong Kong has been consumed by debates over independence and autonomy. The international scene today offers ample lessons on why they must be handled with great care.
Just look at two places: Catalonia and Puerto Rico. In the former, it shows that Western democracies don’t easily tolerate independence movements, at least not in their own backyards. In the latter, it demonstrates what the loss of autonomy looks like.
There are some parallels between Catalonia and Hong Kong. Catalonia is among the richest regions in Spain. Hong Kong remains, though probably not for long, the richest city in China. Catalonia pays a disproportionate amount of tax to Madrid. Hong Kong, however, doesn’t pay a cent to the central government.
As soon as independence was declared, Madrid moved to take over the secessionist regional government.
All across Europe, national governments show no interest in, or support for, Catalonian independence. The European Union has long declared it would not recognise it.
Spain is a constitutional monarchy. For Beijing, a communist state, the threshold for tolerating independence as an ideology is much lower. Hong Kong doesn’t need to declare independence to invite intervention. We must weigh whether we should protect the right of foolish youth to advocate something as impractical and absurd as independence to the detriment of public welfare and tranquillity.