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Letters | Hong Kong protests can be cooled with a single change to the Basic Law, but will China agree?
- The current turmoil in Hong Kong is less about the extradition law than a continuation of the Occupy movement’s struggle for universal suffrage
- Unless the pan-democrats can convince Beijing to do away with Article 15 of the Basic Law, they are championing a lost cause
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While the current turmoil in Hong Kong is taking place in the name of the extradition bill, the reality is that it is still about electing the chief executive through universal suffrage – that is, it is no more than the continuation of the Occupy Central movement.
We are told that the bill is dead, though some would like the words “withdrawn” or “rescinded” to be used. This seems like a matter of semantics, as there is nothing to stop a future administration from reintroducing the bill.
The crux of the problem is that the chief executive is “appointed”, according to Article 15 and Article 45 of the Basic Law, in much the same way that colonial governors were appointed by London.
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Therefore, Hong Kong could find itself in a crisis situation in which the central government refuses to appoint the elected chief executive candidate, irrespective of the election method used.
If the pro-democracy politicians lobby Beijing to remove Article 15 and let Hong Kong appoint its own chief executive and principal officials, then they will have my support and possibly that of the vast majority of the Hong Kong public.
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But if Beijing refuses to remove this article, as I think it will, for it impinges on the question of sovereignty, then the pro-democracy activists should accept reality and leave Hong Kong in peace.
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