Extreme? Moderate? No, Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong’s new party will be somewhere in between
Scholarism leader says the people must decide whether the city seeks independence
Student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung says the new political party he and fellow Scholarism leaders are to set up next month will position itself “somewhere in between” “extreme radical” and “moderate”.
Amid a rising tide of pro-independence localism in the city, Wong said his new party would push for a referendum to let the people choose the way they wanted Hong Kong to advance, instead of simply promoting independence.
“Whether we should continue adopting ‘one country, two systems’ or go independent, it is important that Hong Kong people should make a choice on their own. If we do not decide it ourselves, Beijing will decide it for us,” said Wong, spelling out more of his ideas about the new party in an interview with DBC on Thursday.
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He also tried to distance himself from radical localists and said they would not use violence in the pursuit of their goals.
Professor Larry Diamond, one of the world’s leading scholars on democracy who was visiting the city, meanwhile, said the rise of localism “has the potential to bring big tragedy to Hong Kong” as it could obstruct the democratic camp’s appeal to moderate voters.
“They are not morally wrong but practically damaging,” said Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, addressing a seminar at City University on Thursday.
He said the pan-democrats should marginalise the hardliners and secure the widest support base possible.
Diamond, however, said the Chinese Communist Party regime was going down and that pro-democracy forces in Hong Kong should get prepared.