Lai SeeTrying to fake 'one country, two systems' won't work

Beijing's intransigence over electoral reform has caused more trouble for itself than if it had shown modest flexibility. Its efforts to stifle constitutional reform in Hong Kong have led to the recent demonstrations and the resultant global attention.

There are a number of domestic political reasons for this intransigence but ultimately it comes down to a basic distrust of people in Hong Kong. Many in the eyes of Beijing are tainted by the colonial experience and cannot be considered "patriots". Some have criticised the communist party. Along with this there is a fear of Hong Kong being used as a base to subvert the party's control of the mainland. As a result, Beijing wants to have its own man in charge in Hong Kong.

To ensure this happens, Beijing needs to maintain tight control of the election system to ensure its trusted choice is "elected". But this hardline approach to Hong Kong makes life difficult for its chosen chief executive. Leung Chun-ying has found it difficult to govern because his default position as seen by the people of Hong Kong is to do Beijing's bidding rather than represent the interests of Hong Kong people. However, under the terms of the Basic Law, the Chief Executive has a responsibility to Beijing and to Hong Kong, in that he is supposed to represent the views of the Hong Kong people to the central government.

The Baptist University's Hong Kong Transition Project's report on Constitutional Reform, published in April, indicated high levels of dissatisfaction among Hong Kong people with the performance of the city's government, and with life in Hong Kong. It also showed a high level of dissatisfaction with the way the SAR government deals with the central government. This is because it is not perceived to be making much effort to protect the high level of autonomy that is supposed to exist under "one country, two systems".

This was a point made by Joseph Wong Wing-ping on RTHK's Backchat programme yesterday. Wong was a career civil servant under the colonial administration and served as Secretary for the Civil Service under Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. He says the present administration has been the worst in safeguarding the city's autonomy. As an example, he cited the government's report on constitutional reform which seriously misrepresented Hong Kong opinion to Beijing. Cynics will say that government officials wrote what they were instructed to by Beijing authorities. "If there is somebody in the SAR government who followed orders from the Beijing government in twisting Hong Kong opinion, then this is not how I understand the government's role under the Basic Law," said Wong. And he felt that those involved - "people of conscience" - should resign.

This is the dilemma for Beijing. It wants its own man in Hong Kong, but the more he toes Beijing's line, the less people in Hong Kong trust him, and ultimately he is unable to govern. The Chief Executive does not have the authoritarian tools available to the mainland authorities to rein in a disaffected population. There's no secret police here to speak of, you can't hold troublesome people in jail indefinitely or torture them until they see the error of their ways. You can't threaten their families.