Hong Kong’s protest violence will only hasten the city’s integration into ‘one country’
- A communique issued after the Communist Party’s fourth plenum, which warns of sweeping changes in relations with Hong Kong and implicitly criticises our legal system, should have alarm bells ringing over the future of ‘one country, two systems’
Back off, stop the clashes with police and the vandalism, and the process will be somewhat delayed. But, whichever strategy is adopted, the wheels are already in motion and the inevitable is now close, not decades away as some would have hoped.
The democracy-driven protests, now in their 22nd week, have revealed who is in charge in Hong Kong. One country, two systems, Beijing’s governing model since the return of the city to Chinese sovereignty from British colonial rule on July 1, 1997, promised a “high degree of autonomy” for at least 50 years.
Speculation as to the degree to which one country, two systems has been eroded has been swept away by the protests; mainland officials are obviously in control and Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s administration is doing as it is told.