One of the most fascinating aspects of Hong Kong’s political reality is that even when Beijing takes a back seat, people look to it and anticipate its next move. That’s the case right now amid the political vacuum that has emerged in the wake of the death of the
extradition bill. The government’s “
complete failure” to try to amend the existing laws on extradition has driven Hong Kong to anarchy, with
initial outrage over the bill giving way to
total pandemonium.
Six weeks of protests and Beijing is still leaving it to the Hong Kong government to handle the situation. But it is clear the government has not been getting much of a handle on things.
The
Financial Times reported that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor repeatedly tried to tender her resignation and that Beijing has repeatedly rejected it, telling Lam to clean up her own mess. While a top aide to Lam
denied that the report was true, it is seen by many to be credible. It’s hard to believe that Beijing believes the Lam administration can clean up the biggest political crisis since the handover.
But Beijing has already acted, in a sense: it is not budging on the demands of the protesters and it is not letting Lam off the hook. It is buying time because it needs to take a step back and
assess the situation – the reality on the ground – before it acts. According to people close to the situation, Beijing is trying to figure out how things have gone so wrong that the central government was caught unawares by the scale and intensity of the protests, indicating a complete failure of its system of keeping tabs on the city.
While it is almost unfathomable that Beijing does not really know what is happening under its nose, it should be clear now that those responsible for reporting and advising the central government on Hong Kong matters have failed to give Beijing an accurate picture.
It is also obvious that the small group of politically privileged Hongkongers who have Beijing’s ear also failed to gauge and reflect reality. Beijing’s monitoring system is broken and, according to sources close to the situation, the central government has been working on fixing it. The Post has reported that mainland Chinese officials in charge of Hong Kong affairs will soon present the results of their investigation and solutions to the city’s political crisis to the powers that be for deliberation.
I hope that Chinese officials recognise that events such as
Saturday’s rally, organised by “Safeguard Hong Kong”, the same group that launched
an online petition in support of the now dead bill, is the epitome of the wrong sort of strategy that has been employed in Hong Kong. Putting on political shows of this kind is confrontational, divisive and equivalent to lighting a match in the midst of an already explosive social climate.
At best, it’s a show of solidarity by the pro-Beijing camp, which is a thoroughly inappropriate response to a Hong Kong suffering from its worst ever political and social crisis – caused by a convergence of very serious and deep-rooted social ills, complete breakdown of trust, and years of antagonistic
dysfunctional politics exacerbated by ineffective governance. Note that none of these has anything to do with the police. But the rally, instead, reinforces the very dangerous and wrong notion that fighting the extradition bill and the government equals fighting the police. It is scoring political points at the expense of the
already embattled police force, which has been bearing the brunt of the political crisis in the absence of a political solution.
To hold a rally like this a day before more scheduled protests just shows that the pro-Beijing camp is irresponsible, unwise and out of ideas, and that surely is more bad news for the central government.
What Hong Kong needs are massive efforts devoted to bringing about a peaceful resolution to the clashes on our streets, after which there must be a rebuilding of trust and social cohesion, beginning with a return to dialogue.
Lam must act – however limited her options are – soon. It is most worrying that Lam is exhibiting the same attitude she did during the “
lead water” controversy – everyone is to blame, so no one needs to quit. Heads in her cabinet would need to roll, especially if she is not allowed to quit. That is the only way to de-escalate the situation.
Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA
