Is 'one country, two systems' Hong Kong's driving force?
It is with some regret that we missed out on the "Implementation of the Basic Law" luncheon. It was held in Toronto recently and was therefore impractical to attend.
It is with some regret that we missed out on the "Implementation of the Basic Law" luncheon. It was held in Toronto recently and was therefore impractical to attend.
The guest speaker was Dr Eugene Chan, who rejoices in the title of Convenor of the Working Group on Overseas Community under the Basic Law Promotion Steering Committee of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. One wonders what he did wrong to be consigned to this role.
The luncheon was a seminar on the implementation of the Basic Law in Hong Kong, and Chan's task was, according to the government's press announcement, "to share Hong Kong's experience in implementing the Basic Law in the past 15 years as well as how the Basic Law serves as a driving force for Hong Kong to keep forging ahead".
We hope there was some decent food and wine in view of the unappetising subject for discussion. However, the event raises some important points.
Why is the Hong Kong government sending people round the world and presumably paying them to spout this crude propaganda? Chan will hardly have astonished his audience by telling them that the principle of "'one country, two systems' has been practised successfully since the Basic Law came into effect on July 1, 1997". He went on to say that the SAR exercises a "high degree of autonomy in accordance with the Basic law and enjoys executive, legislative, and independence judicial power". How true is this, we wonder? The Executive Council and the department heads have to be cleared by Beijing, as do candidates for chief executive. There are a lot of other decisions which we aren't told about which seem to need approval from the Liaison Office. This office also provides electoral assistance to some candidates.
It is unlikely that we will ever know exactly how one country, two systems works, since historians will have no worthwhile government records to work with. The Director of Audit, among others, has said that the system of maintaining government records seems to have collapsed since 1997. Literally mountains of government records have been destroyed without being properly vetted. In an article in the in 2011, William Waung, a retired judge and chairman of the Archives Action Group, wrote: "What is particularly worrying is that key government departments and bureaus, where the most important decisions are being made (such as Chief Executive's Office, the Chief Secretary's Office, the Financial Secretary's Office and the Security Bureau) have not made policy records available for selection and preservation since 1997."
It's all very well touring round the world telling everyone what a great system "One country two systems" is, but we all know Hong Kong is a good deal less independent than officials would have us believe.
We woke up this morning with high expectations for the local stock market, since our leaders in Beijing had resolved to give the markets a "decisive role" in the economy. After all, one of the factors in the recent rise of the A-share markets and our own Hang Seng Index was, dare we say, the hype surrounding the third plenum.
However, judging by their performance, the markets were evidently disappointed at the lack of concrete details to emerge from the conclave of top party leaders. The HSI was down almost 2 per cent while the CSI300 (Composite Shanghai Index) fell 2.2 per cent - its heaviest loss in four months.
But these indices do not tell the whole story. Although the mainland markets fell, defence and surveillance stocks rose sharply, buoyed by signs that the leadership intended to revamp security in the face of rising threats at home and abroad.
"A plan to start a new 'state security committee' offered just about the only positive takeaway for investors," Reuters reported.
It added that information security firm Bluedon Information Security Technology rose by the maximum-allowed 10 per cent limit in Shenzhen. Network security firms such as Beijing Venustech jumped 5 per cent in Shenzhen, while Aerosun, a manufacturer of automobile products used by the military, climbed 10 per cent in Shanghai.
The market has spoken decisively, but possibly not in the way the leadership anticipated.
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