South China Morning Post
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Chinese characters reading “add oil” from one angle and “Hong Kong” from another are displayed on a road during a protest in Hong Kong on July 1. Both the Hong Kong and Beijing governments should see that continued unrest is in nobody’s interests. Photo: Bloomberg
Opinion
Opinion
by Brian Y. S. Wong
Opinion
by Brian Y. S. Wong

It’s easy to play the blame game. It’s harder – but necessary – for Carrie Lam to restart dialogue and negotiate Hong Kong’s future

  • Whatever you think of their actions, a good number of young Hongkongers feel their options have been exhausted. It’s time for political moderates who have Beijing’s ear to step up and broker dialogue between the administration and protesters
Brian Y. S. Wong
Brian Y. S. Wong
Why you can trust SCMP
The eruptions of violence in Hong Kong have put the future careers, prospects and welfare of many youths at risk; the unnecessary, engineered skirmishes between police and the public have threatened to divide the hitherto largely unified opposition to the extradition bill and, worse, narrowed the room for negotiation and compromise between the administration and the public. 

The blame game has started. The government, which has been most inadequate in political communication over the past two years, pointed to the violence of the protesters as the root of the problem. Moderate pan-democrats have blamed the administration of Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor for not responding in time to protesters' demands.

Protesters said the administration’s silence left them with no alternative. What is particularly worrisome is the fixation with condemnation: protesters have been condemned as a mob, legislators for being ineffective, and the entire protest against the extradition bill as being disruptive to society.

To focus on condemning and attributing blame is to miss the point: the escalating violence is in nobody’s interests. For Beijing, continued unrest would undermine Hong Kong’s status as an important financial hub, and call into question the tenability of “one country, two systems”.

As for the protesters, they would be compelled by the logic of social movements to stand on the front line and risk their own mental and physical health. For the wider public, there might be a growing sense of apathy or defeatism, and a fear that politics is too high-stakes for many. Finally, for legislators on both sides of the political divide, the escalating violence might limit the extent to which they can manoeuvre and negotiate with the administration.

Violence has no intrinsic appeal: it is not a natural option for most individuals, and they do not employ it lightly. The administration, along with all other parties involved, must take a serious look at how its governance has gone wrong.

Have the extradition protests sealed Hong Kong’s fate with Beijing?

Regardless of whether you regard their actions as morally justified, a sizeable number of the city’s young people feel their options have been exhausted, and their demands unheard. This feeling is exacerbated by the recent deaths of three individuals who had actively protested against the bill.

Whilst this may not justify the legal violations and property damage by protesters who occupied the Legislative Council on Monday night, the administration needs to do far more than dismiss them as a violent mob.
Those who identify themselves as moderates must step up to the task of brokering dialogue between the administration and protesters. At a press conference on Tuesday morning, the chief executive said she had turned down the pan-democrats’ earlier request to meet her because communication on the scene would not have been productive.

Yet, with lives and the future of Hong Kong at stake, no conversation should be seen as unproductive. To expressly deny protesters and opposition activists a chance to petition her is both politically unsavvy and unhelpful in resolving the crisis.

Now more than ever, Hong Kong is key to Taiwan unification

Moderates should convey to Beijing that protesters have no desire to undermine its governance over Hong Kong, provided that “one country, two systems” is adequately upheld and that the administration visibly acknowledges their views through open consultation.

More importantly, they should bridge the political gap by finding positions both sides could embrace: whether it be the setting up of an independent inquiry into the events of June 12, or genuine apologies and reflections on the process through which the extradition bill was introduced.
Hong Kong is part of China – this is not in dispute. It is not in Beijing’s interests to see the city descend into political chaos and a legitimacy crisis. There are still 28 years to go before the hypothesised lapse of the promise that life in Hong Kong would remain unchanged for 50 years.

That’s almost three more decades of adhering to effectively dualistic governance: upholding the interests of Hongkongers in a way that is consistent with China’s greater interests. There is no better model for this than “one country, two systems” – and we cannot afford to shut off dialogue that could crucially enable us to preserve this institution.

Brian YS Wong is a Master of Philosophy student of politics (political theory) at Wolfson College, Oxford University

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