As the deadline approaches for the government to produce new constitutional reform proposals, the great minds in Lower Albert Road are busy coming up with 101 reasons for a delay while seeking new ways to explain that representative government will not work in Hong Kong. As they do so, an intriguing lifeline has been thrown to them by Cheng Jie , a mainland academic who was seconded by the National People's Congress Standing Committee to carry out research on the Basic Law.
In an article in the Hong Kong Journal, she concludes that 'a great mistake of the Basic Law' was to allow foreign nationals to be civil servants and judges and that granting foreigners the right to vote has made the application of universal suffrage 'more complicated'.
Were this an isolated example of questioning fundamental characteristics of the Hong Kong way of life, it could be brushed aside. But it follows on from a more substantial attack delivered by Cao Erbao, director of the research section of the central government liaison office in Hong Kong, who openly called for the establishment of what is, in effect, a shadow government to ensure that Beijing's wishes are enforced here.
Professor Cheng's questioning of the Basic Law is less far reaching in some ways but more troubling in others. She is blind to Hong Kong's complex history of multiculturalism and conveniently ignores that most 'foreigners' were born and bred here but hold foreign passports because they have reservations about coming under the rule of the People's Republic. Unlike foreigners born overseas, who have opted to be part of the life of Hong Kong, these 'foreigners' feel the need for an insurance policy that allows them to opt out.
Presumably, Professor Cheng either does not know or chooses to ignore the fact that a high proportion of the government's favourite yes-men and women, who are regularly showered with honours and official posts, have foreign passports tucked in their back pockets. Clearly Beijing doesn't want to undermine their position, so it is reasonable to conclude that the real target of the professor's concerns are foreigners who are not Chinese. If this is so, it smacks of racism.
She is right to observe that Hong Kong's arrangements for foreign permanent residents are unusual, but not unique - permanent residents of Britain and New Zealand, for example, have the right to vote and many countries allow foreigners to become civil servants. But, Hong Kong goes further and derives strength from its multinational character.