My Take | Hong Kong needs to be both a political and an economic city
- A survey has shown a growing lack of interest in politics. Yet engagement is needed if the city is to rebuild its reputation as being vibrant and open
Hong Kong was still being described as an “economic city” long after it had embraced the cut and thrust of party politics and embarked on a long and difficult process of democratic development.
The economic city label does not just refer to Hong Kong’s freewheeling entrepreneurial spirit. The term also implies people have little or no interest in politics. That view became increasingly inaccurate in the 1980s and 90s as the city’s return to China approached.
Political parties were formed and elections held, with the new Basic Law promising there would be gradual and orderly progress towards universal suffrage. Debate about the pace and form of elections dominated politics for years after the 1997 handover.
That process stalled when democrats voted down Beijing’s proposal for universal suffrage to elect the chief executive in 2017, objecting to conditions imposed on the nomination of candidates.
Then, after often-violent anti-government protests in 2019, the passing of a national security law in 2020 and the arrest of democrat politicians, a new political system was put in place. Direct elections were scaled back and only “patriots” could participate. There is little talk of universal suffrage now.
Hong Kong, it seems, might be described as an economic city once again. A survey published by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at Chinese University revealed almost 63 per cent of respondents said they were not very concerned or had no interest in politics, a 7.3 percentage point increase compared with last year.