Independent Hong Kong would become a barren rock again
Dreams are figments of the imagination which go beyond the bounds of reality. And that is what calls for an independent Hong Kong are about.
These young student groups advocating independence lack maturity and diplomacy. They hold the belief that if they don’t like something, then simply change it. What our university professors don’t teach them is to think things through to the end. Only then can change take place.
So the students don’t like the way Hong Kong is run. They don’t like China’s proposals for democratic development. They don’t like the chief executive and mainlanders, who are of the same blood. They want a totally new Hong Kong. Sorry, it won’t happen.
It entails breaking the agreement between the two sovereign states (China and the UK) with the Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong, which, incidentally, is registered with the UN. Hong Kong’s mini constitution, the Basic Law, has to be thrown out. So a void is created. It will have to have a president and a new constitution.
There will have to be a new cabinet and a revamped civil service. More than 600 international trade agreements will have to be renegotiated and diplomatic relations will have to be established with most of the world. As a state independent of China, it will have to find new food and water supplies. By 2047, China will not need to rely on Hong Kong’s port and air routes to tranship cargo. Hong Kong will have no natural resources to survive.
We no longer have a manufacturing base and there will be nothing to trade. Come 2047 and if Hong Kong becomes independent, this territory will become the barren rock from which it was founded.
With all of the above, calling for independence is simply not practical. Hong Kong needs an anchor and that is, and will remain, the People’s Republic of China.
We, the people of Hong Kong, know our constraints, our weaknesses and our strengths. Together we can make this a great place to live and work in an atmosphere appreciated by future generations.
Free speech prevails and advocates for independence can say whatever they like; it’s just that no one will listen to them and the authorities in both the mainland and Hong Kong should not take the bait and be drawn into controversies which will only provoke the students further.
So, to the students of Hong Kong, dream on.
Mark Pinkstone, Yuen Long
