LettersCan China under Xi Jinping loosen its grip on Hong Kong? After the extradition protests, it’s less likely than ever

As president, Xi has steadfastly emphasised tighter party control, and this has driven the “two systems” further apart

The more intransigent the protests become, the more Xi might be forced to exert his personal political power

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Chinese President Xi Jinping applauds during the celebration of the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on December 18, 2018. Addressing the delegates, Xi stressed the continued need to follow party guidance. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:00pm, 5 Jul 2019Updated: 1:09pm, 5 Jul 2019

In his opinion piece earlier this week, Tom Plate made several points regarding the problems facing China, arising from the mass protests in Hong Kong against the extradition law (“Don’t treat Hong Kong as just another Chinese city”, July 1).

An important question Mr Plate posed is whether the Chinese one-party state can impose on itself “more intellectual discipline and self-control” in its desire to “govern” Hong Kong. Simple answer: 2019 might as well be 1841 – in reverse.

President Xi Jinping has been exerting his personal power in one-man rule, alongside the old party-state system and the People’s Liberation Army. There has been no “circumscription” of state power. The “centre” still holds, despite the marketisation of the Chinese economy and Hong Kong’s “cosmopolitan” capitalism – from which China benefits.

Mr Plate’s assessment that the Communist Party is a “survivalist organisation” is exaggerated. China’s “governance” of Hong Kong is better understood in the changed nature of Chinese party-state power, especially after Xi began ruling the country.

Mr Plate argues that China’s “two systems” heralds “finesse”, that the Communist Party is “creative” and that the Chinese state is innovative, sophisticated and pragmatic. I’ve not seen evidence of the “two systems” treading towards convergence so that their differences have narrowed.

In fact, Xi has taken them farther apart. Seen from a Leninist perspective, Xi has maintained the Communist Party’s dictatorship of the Chinese proletariat to enlarge Chinese capitalism. But Chinese capitalism requires party and state centralism to anchor it, just as China needs Hong Kong’s “cosmopolitan” capitalism, especially when faced with US tariffs.