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Do not count on China's false prophets

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THE article by Tse Ying (Sunday Morning Post, February 14) propounds a seemingly plausible argument that has been used ad nauseam by the pro-Beijing media to discredit any view about democratisation in Hongkong which deviates from that prescribed by Chinain the Basic Law.

The argument is the British Government denied Hongkong people democratic rights for 150 years and only deigned to grant them after Beijing (in 1983) insisted the British surrender sovereignty to China in 1997.

The reader is thus invited to infer only by the grace of a benevolent motherland have the Hongkong Chinese had democratic rights conferred on them.

It is then suggested this last-minute rush by the British to make the government more representative must be part of a foreign conspiracy to impede China's economic progress and destabilise its government.

The flaw in this argument is not that it criticises the British unreasonably for procrastinating over reform in Hongkong. Indeed, British foot-dragging was deliberate, unimaginative and irresponsible.

The flaw is in the implication that China is going to be more progressive about democratic reform in Hongkong after 1997 than the British were before 1997 and that the proof is to be found in the Basic Law.

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