How Andy Chan’s call for Hong Kong independence fails the test of common sense

Mike Rowse sat in on his FCC talk and came away puzzled as to why a champion of Hong Kong freedoms should suggest asking America to suspend the trade privileges the city enjoys under US law. And that’s just one of the illogical points of his speech

Mike Rowse

Published: 2:00am, 27 Aug 2018

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It is with great reluctance that I return to the subject of Hong Kong independence as promulgated by the so-called Hong Kong National Party, and its convenor Andy Chan Ho-tin. Too much attention has already been paid to the shallow and immature thinking recently on display at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. But some important things need to be said.

I attended the FCC event. As I have written in a previous column, I think independence for Hong Kong is impossible and would anyway be against our best interests. But I wanted to understand the logic of those with a contrary opinion.

At the question-and-answer session after the speech, I asked Chan this question: “Bearing in mind that Article 1 of the Basic Law states that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China, what action have you been taking or will you be taking in the next few years to persuade the National People’s Congress to repeal Article 1?”

Chan dismissed the Basic Law, in effect saying that it was not relevant to Hong Kong people like himself because they had played no part in its drafting or promulgation. In other words, his party would proceed as if the Basic Law did not exist. Apart from the sheer absurdity of the answer, it is also factually incorrect: there were Hong Kong members of the Basic Law Drafting Committee back in the 1980s (one of whom, at least for a while, was Martin Lee Chu-ming), and a majority of the members of the Basic Law Consultative Committee were also locals.

Watch: What is the Basic Law?

Whether the reply displayed ignorance of history or wilful disregard for the truth was not immediately apparent, but no matter. In addition to the non-answer, which was bad enough, Chan had appealed during his speech for the American government to suspend the trade privileges Hong Kong enjoys under the US-Hong Kong Policy Act.

Now just pause for a moment and see if you can find the logic in this proposal. On the one hand, his party says Hong Kong is different from the mainland, Beijing is encroaching on those things that make us different so – it is argued – we should become independent to protect those differences.

Hong Kong’s differences from the mainland don’t justify separatism

On the other hand, it suggests that the privileges be dropped and we be treated the same as the mainland. How can a party whose very name implies it puts Hong Kong first in all things make proposals to harm Hong Kong’s economy?

Nor was this the end of the foolishness. Over the following weekend, Chan published an open letter addressed to US President Donald Trump, appealing to him to kick both China and Hong Kong out of the World Trade Organisation.

Watch: Andy Chan tells why he seeks Hong Kong independence

Words better than bricks in hitting target

Leaving aside the “drama queen” aspect of a political non-entity addressing the head of government of the world’s most powerful country, and leaving aside the fact that membership of the WTO is not within the gift of the American leader, how could this possibly be in Hong Kong’s best interests?

It is a fact that many of our young people feel disaffected with the mainland and local authorities

The Hong Kong nation has not even been formed yet, but already we have our first dissident. Some might use a stronger word.

The main thrust of Chan’s speech was that Hong Kong had been colonised by the British and was now being colonised by China. The analysis is specious because Hong Kong was not independent before the British came, it was part of China. Now the British have left and our city has returned to Chinese custody. That is not colonisation, it is a return to the status quo, or, as some would say, redress of a historical wrong.

My personal impression was that most members of the FCC audience on the day, especially the more senior ones with greater knowledge of Hong Kong’s history, were not very impressed with Chan’s arguments or grasp of reality. Whether the club should have given him a platform to air his views is arguable.

Pro-Hong Kong independence supporters gather near the Foreign Correspondents’ Club during the lunch talk by Andy Chan. Should the FCC have given him a platform to air his views? After all, there is a difference between reporting the news and helping to create it. Photo: EPA-EFE

After all, there is a difference between reporting the news and helping to create it. From one point of view, had the FCC not invited Chan to speak, it would not have been political censorship, just recognition that he fails the “common sense” smell test. But let’s just accept that there are different, legitimate, points of view.

It is a fact that many of our young people feel disaffected with the mainland and local authorities, and even feel less Chinese now than they did in 1997. That is a matter upon which both governments need to reflect.

Borders are fluid, but ‘what ifs’ of the past and future are speculation

By chance, the past couple of weeks also saw a news item emerge from the British government archives. Hong Kong people have always known that a major factor behind the 1981 British Nationality Act was the desire to strip local people of their right of abode in the UK. It now turns out that, in addition to refusing to give Hong Kong people a full British passport, the UK government also lobbied the Portuguese government not to give their passports to residents of Macau, because of the precedent it would set. To its great credit, the government in Lisbon stuck to the more honourable course.

Perhaps there is a third government connected with Hong Kong which also has cause to reflect.

Mike Rowse is the CEO of Treloar Enterprises. [email protected]

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