The View | Beijing too big to worry about what Hong Kong ‘thinks’
All China wants is a settled, prosperous Hong Kong because that removes one less problem
Never does travel broaden the mind so much as when you are away from home. As I perused Hong Kong from the perspective of a two-week trip and several thousand miles, the thought that dare not speak its name hit me with renewed vigour. “Why does Hong Kong still exist?”
From the outside, there are many reasons against one of the most international and free societies in the world existing within China, or most other countries. Men in flip-flops crossing impassable European borders while holding babies and carrying plastic bags of belongings are a testimony to the desirability of what we have. One wonders how the Europeans would defend their borders against armed forces.
Open borders to legal travel, an open economy, a free press, the rule of law and an international culture are not universal attributes around the world. Many leaders ensure that their subjects have severe limitations on their personal actions.
Hong Kong is the best place in the world. You should bet on it
As we look towards elections in Myanmar in November, could we see a repeat of the 1990 election when the military junta lost to a majority of 80 per cent in free and fair elections and ignored the result? Robert Mugabe is still a dictator in Zimbabwe by curbing press freedoms, paying off the key people, and intimidating the rest.
Mao was correct when he said that power comes from the barrel of a gun. It is a tough world where the defenceless come second. But in the modern world, brute force is not the only piece on the chessboard. The status of Hong Kong is a key example of what other pieces are involved.
Richard Hughes, the celebrated journalist based in Hong Kong in the 1960’s and 1970’s, called Hong Kong a Borrowed Place on Borrowed Time. His contention was that it was not Britain that held Hong Kong but that it was China that allowed it. I don’t think many disagreed with him even then – the Chinese Army was said to have more soldiers than the British Army had bullets.
Today Hong Kong is no longer a borrowed place but it is still on borrowed time – just a little over 31 years. But wouldn’t it just be easier for China to complete the handover now, equalising rights throughout the country?