Credit where it's due
With the approach of the 10th anniversary of the handover, we are hearing many assessments of the situation over the past decade. The vast majority praise the success of the 'one country, two systems' experiment while a few pundits, such as Martin Lee Chu-ming, deplore the situation and say that it is now 'one country, one system'.
Even Chris Patten, the last British governor, has written that 'the principle of 'one country, two systems' has been upheld', with the city being 'a lot more free and open than some Asian cities that are allegedly ruled by the ballot box'.
Personally, while I would love to see a timetable leading to full democracy at the earliest possible date, I must say that what is most gratifying is that, by and large, Hong Kong's rights and freedoms have been maintained. This is no small achievement.
I never subscribed to the notion that Beijing was simply waiting for the arrival of July 1, 1997, to crack down on Hong Kong, despite warnings of imminent disaster emanating from the western media in the months and years before the handover. However, I was apprehensive that there might be a rollback in such areas as freedom of speech and assembly.
Certainly, the media in particular was deeply worried. The annual report of the Hong Kong Journalists Association for 1997 asserted: 'All the indications from China's leaders, and to a good extent from the incoming special administrative region government under Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, point to freedom of expression, and of the press, being restricted in some measure after the handover.'
Well, thank God that did not happen. Beijing deserves credit, too.
Before the handover, there was an expectation that the June 4 rallies, held each year since 1990 under the auspices of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, would no longer go ahead. Indeed, the continued existence of the alliance as a body was in doubt. But here it is, 10 years later and there has been no attempt by the governments either in Beijing or Hong Kong to intervene.
The China-watching magazines, such as Open Magazine, were worried about their future operating in a Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty, but today they continue to be published.
Yet, there were real reasons for concern, right up until the night of June 30, 1997. Former vice-premier Qian Qichen, for example, said in an interview with The Asian Wall Street Journal in June 1996 that demonstrations would no longer be allowed on June 4 and that criticism of Chinese leaders would also be forbidden.
And a senior Chinese judicial official said that after 1997 all corruption cases involving state enterprises would be dealt with on the mainland - a severe blow to the rule of law in Hong Kong if it had been carried out.
Mainland officials also alarmed Hong Kong residents by warning that all senior civil servants would have to be interviewed in Beijing before they could continue in service after 1997. Such political vetting would have spelled the end of Hong Kong's politically neutral civil service.
And, in April 1997, just weeks before the handover, the office of the future chief executive issued a consultation paper on the regulation of public processions and demonstrations, proposing a system of licensing for holding demonstrations.
Fortunately, Beijing realised that such drastic changes would severely damage the ability of Hong Kong to continue to function as the goose that lays golden eggs for China. In the end, all the senior officials appointed by Mr Patten were kept in office without being first interviewed in Beijing, and no significant limits were placed on the right of people to demonstrate.
For all these things, Beijing deserves credit. That said, it should understand that Hong Kong has a mature and responsible population that has earned the right to a larger voice in the running of affairs. It is time Beijing went beyond maintaining the rights and freedoms granted by Britain and moved to give Hong Kong something the British never gave it - universal suffrage.
Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer and commentator
