My Take | How pan-dems have helped end ‘one country, two systems’
- Hong Kong’s fierce but mindless defenders of its independence have ended up delivering the city to its Chinese masters on a platter
With enemies like them, Beijing doesn’t need friends.
What the pan-democratic opposition leaders and anti-government protest movement have achieved is beyond anything Beijing’s allies could have entertained in their wildest dream – ending American leverage over Hong Kong, speeding up the city’s full integration with the rest of the country and getting the localist movement to commit suicide.
Beijing shouldn’t even think about locking them up. Instead, they deserve full honour for helping the motherland turn Hong Kong into “just another mainland city” well ahead of schedule. They may not be patriots, rather the opposite, but they may have ultimately served the country better than any self-proclaimed nationalists.
You think I am joking? I wish I was. By flying over to Washington year in and year out to badmouth their own city and country, the opposition has given perfect cover for American politicians to turn Hong Kong into a pawn in a new cold war struggle between the two countries.
They have actively encouraged Washington to threaten to end Hong Kong’s special trade status unless Beijing played ball. That American legislation is often, quite accurately, described as “a nuclear option”. The whole point of having nuclear weapons, of course, is not to use them, but to deter and bend your opponent to your will.