As China and the US embark on a cold war, Hong Kong must prepare to face a brave new world

Michael Chugani says Hong Kong doesn’t have a choice in which side it will take in the cold war between the US and China, but it must plan for a changed reality

The US has historically granted Hong Kong special status, but this might not continue as the conflict intensifies

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US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a business leaders’ event inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 9, 2017. The conflict between the US and China has intensified in recent months. Photo: AFP

Michael Chugani

Michael Chugani is a Hong Kong journalist and TV show host

Published: 3:00pm, 31 Oct 2018Updated: 9:26pm, 31 Oct 2018

Which side will freedom-loving Hong Kong choose if and when the US-China trade war that is now raging escalates into a cold war?

China is a communist state ruled by the increasingly authoritarian President Xi Jinping. The US is a democracy governed by President Donald Trump, who has authoritarian tendencies. Hong Kong is a free society with cherished democratic institutions. That is why the US Congress passed the US-Hong Kong Policy Act ahead of the 1997 handover to help protect the city’s special status after its reunification with a communist state.

Hong Kong will naturally have to stand with China if and when a cold war starts with the US. There can be no illusions that “one country, two systems” allows Hong Kong a choice on such a sensitive political issue, especially after Beijing equated self-determination with independence.

But even though it will have no choice but to stand with the motherland, which side will the hearts of Hong Kong people be on? Will they, out of loyalty, root for a new global order with a communist state as the world leader? Or will Hongkongers secretly hope the US will triumph out of fear that if China replaces the US as the dominant global superpower, nothing will hold it back from further tightening its grip on Hong Kong?

A recent global survey by the Pew Research Centre found that the vast majority of the countries polled preferred the US over China as world leader. Neither mainland China nor Hong Kong were included in the survey but if Hong Kong had been included, would it have chosen the US or China as the world’s dominant superpower?