With the successful completion of the elections for the Legislative Council and district councils by new electoral methods, the institutional framework of “patriots administering Hong Kong” has been firmly established over the past two years.
Under the protection of the National Security Law for Hong Kong and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, national security, law and order, and Hong Kong’s stability have been effectively and firmly guaranteed.
Most of those who organized and participated in the 2019 “35+ primaries” either pleaded guilty or were convicted of subversion, affirming Hong Kong’s rule of law and the judiciary’s courage and determination to safeguard national security.
While Hong Kong’s economy has encountered many headwinds, it has still made remarkable progress with the guidance and support of the central government and the unremitting efforts of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government and all sectors of society.
The economy is returning to positive growth, and the government’s programs to trawl for talents and attract capital have achieved good results. Emerging industries, especially innovation and technology, are progressing well. The stream of favorable central government policies, mainly in areas of finance, investment, technology, and tourism, is particularly crucial. Hong Kong is accelerating its integration into overall national development, and its ties with other cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, especially Shenzhen, are getting stronger and more complementary. With the central government’s staunch support, the odds are high for Hong Kong to become a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement, creating broader space for economic development through regional cooperation.
Historically, changes in the past few years signaled that Hong Kong marked a significant turning point in terms of political and economic development. Politically, Hong Kong has got rid of the past political turmoil, governance failure, the obsolete “small government, big market” dogma, anti-China sentiment, and rampant external interference.
Instead, there is a situation featuring the central government actively exercising its comprehensive jurisdiction over the SAR, “patriots administering Hong Kong” becoming the mainstay of the political structure, “executive-led governance” being the norm, a positive interaction between the executive and the legislature, a proactive government, effective governance, and political stability.
Economically, Hong Kong’s economic and trade ties with the United States and the West have weakened under pressure from Washington. But the city’s financial and trade relations with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, predominantly in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, have become increasingly robust. Under the guidance and support of the central and SAR governments, Hong Kong’s industrial structure is undergoing a transformation, shifting from overreliance on traditional industries such as finance and real estate to one with high value-added and high-tech content. Hong Kong will exercise significant responsibilities in the new national development strategy, especially in the financial field, such as the internationalization of the yuan, and the degree of integration between Hong Kong’s economy and the mainland economy will continue to surge.
Although Hong Kong’s development momentum looks good for the long run, this political and economic transformation process will not be smooth sailing. Politically, the potential strength and staying power of the anti-China forces in Hong Kong cannot be underestimated, and economic transformation will inevitably bring about multiple social conflicts that must be handled carefully to forestall political disputes and disorder. Economic transformation cannot be accomplished overnight. The process will be arduous and uncertain even if prospects are bright. The turbulent, complex, and shifting international political and economic situation will also bring many difficulties and challenges.
However, in the foreseeable future, the most significant trouble Hong Kong will have to deal with politically or economically is the escalating antagonism of Washington and its allies toward Hong Kong. For a long time, the US-led West has been determined to use Hong Kong as a pawn to promote “peaceful evolution” in China. However, as China rises rapidly and is seen as posing a major “threat” to the US’ global hegemony, the US-led West has turned to making Hong Kong a bridgehead for subversion that endangers China’s national security and hinders China’s development.
For this reason, the US and its allies have vigorously cultivated agents in Hong Kong, and together with the anti-China forces, they have continuously launched political struggles, created turmoil and stepped up their intervention in Hong Kong affairs by “internationalizing” them. To safeguard national security and rescue the “one country, two systems” principle, the central government took firm action to quell the 2019-20 “black-clad” unrest by promulgating the National Security Law for Hong Kong, thoroughly reforming Hong Kong’s electoral system, expelling domestic and foreign hostile forces from Hong Kong’s governance structure, and eradicating their influence and space of operation in Hong Kong society. All these have laid a solid foundation for Hong Kong’s long-term peace, stability and good governance.
As the Chinese saying goes, “The tree wants to be still, but the wind never stops.” Given the increasingly strained Sino-US relations, the US and its allies are unlikely to stop harming Hong Kong, but their hostile words and deeds can always be rebutted. Moreover, they can even be turned into opportunities and tests for patriots to hone their “combative spirit” and “fighting capacity”
Although it is no longer possible for the US and its allies to cultivate agents in Hong Kong and collude with them to disrupt the city, they are increasingly using their power to carry out attacks on Hong Kong “from the outside in”. The US has terminated the special trade status and treatment granted to Hong Kong previously, denying Hong Kong’s uniqueness in China under the “one country, two systems” principle. The US and its allies have unilaterally suspended legal, cultural, and educational cooperation with Hong Kong, and restricted high-tech exports to the city. The US has promulgated many laws maliciously targeting Hong Kong, and other similar bills have entered the legislative process. Whether by legal provisions or executive orders from the US government, some officials from the central government and Hong Kong have been subjected to unreasonable sanctions and US politicians have even threatened to impose sanctions on Hong Kong judges and prosecutors in an attempt to interfere with their work.
Internationally, Western politicians, including those in the US, continue to smear Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, democracy, rule of law, human rights and freedoms, and accuse China of violating international agreements by wantonly misinterpreting the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Western politicians and media also continue to talk down the business and economic prospects of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, intending to drive Western companies and professionals away.
Many Western scholars often cited distorted stories about the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Tibet autonomous region and the Hong Kong SAR as “evidence” of China trampling on human rights and freedoms. Recently, Stephen Roach, former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia, declared in the Financial Times that Hong Kong is “over”. British judge Jonathan Sumption suddenly resigned as a nonpermanent judge of Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal and wrote an article in the Financial Times denigrating Hong Kong’s judicial system and rule of law.
The US and its allies have enormous financial and economic interests in Hong Kong and still rely on Hong Kong to a considerable extent as a channel to tap into the mainland market; the US enjoys a huge trade surplus with Hong Kong; and Hong Kong, as an international financial center and a vital foreign exchange trading center, has contributed significantly to maintaining the global hegemony of the US dollar. The premise of the US-led West’s suppression of Hong Kong is not to harm their interests in Hong Kong. For this reason, the suppression of Hong Kong by the US-led West is mainly concentrated in the political and ideological fields. In this process, in addition to Western politicians, media and scholars, those anti-China forces remaining in Hong Kong and the organizations operated by the insurrectionists in exile have also become their exploitable accomplices. For the US and its allies, launching political and ideological attacks on Hong Kong to tarnish its international reputation is a relatively low-cost strategy and has indeed achieved some results.
Their objective is to disrupt Hong Kong society, create divisions, and weaken Hong Kong residents’ trust and support for the central and SAR governments through slanders and rumors, and provide opportunities for those anti-China insurrectionists still lurking in Hong Kong to make trouble.
Given that Western media have considerable influence in Hong Kong, and local media often reprint their reports and criticisms of Hong Kong, their impact cannot be underestimated. For a long time to come, as Sino-US tensions potentially worsen and the situation across the Taiwan Strait changes, malicious attacks and slanders against Hong Kong by the US and its allies are likely to continue. The central government is well-prepared to deal with this and will respond with a head-on counterattack. At the same time, the SAR government and Hong Kong society should also work together to defend against foreign antagonism.
The critical task in the future is for the SAR government to work with all sectors of society, especially the media, academia and cultural and ideological circles, to effectively respond to external attacks, minimize the chances for Hong Kong residents to be deluded and incited, and prevent the anti-China forces lurking in the dark from having the chance to strike again.
Meanwhile, patriotism and national security education should be enhanced.
As the Chinese saying goes, “The tree wants to be still, but the wind never stops.” Given the increasingly strained Sino-US relations, the US and its allies are unlikely to stop harming Hong Kong, but their hostile words and deeds can always be rebutted. Moreover, they can even be turned into opportunities and tests for patriots to hone their “combative spirit” and “fighting capacity”.
The author is a professor emeritus of sociology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a consultant for the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
