Beijing is an imperial power and it is occupying Hong Kong. Again.
HONG KONG — One could say that long before 1997, the year that Britain handed Hong Kong back to China, the leaders of the city’s major pro-democracy parties had come to a tacit understanding with the Chinese government. The pan-dems, as these politicians are known here, would support the absorption of Hong Kong into a greater, unified Chinese state on the understanding that in time Beijing would grant Hong Kong genuine electoral democracy. That, at least, seemed to be the intention driving Hong Kong’s foundational legal text, the Basic Law.
Twenty years later, the Chinese government, apparently bolstered by its newfound wealth and might, seems to have reneged on these terms. Yet some pan-dem leaders — mostly those associated with the Democratic Party — have clung to their old position. Whether out of genuine patriotism or fear of reprisals from Beijing, they continue to support the view that China is Hong Kong’s rightful sovereign.
But is it? Other pro-democracy advocates, both forward-looking young people and older members of the intelligentsia, don’t think so — and are pointing to history as evidence.
Last month, during a forum at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, several academics discussed their research on Hong Kong’s relationship to the Chinese mainland. Comparing British colonial rule in Hong Kong (relatively enlightened, especially after World War II) to China’s proxy rule since 1997 (increasingly heavy-handed), these scholars lent credence to the unorthodox yet increasingly popular view that Hong Kong is faring no better politically — and in some ways may even be doing worse — than it was under the British. Conclusion: It would probably be better off on its own.
Tsui Sing-Yun, a physician-turned-historian, recently published (in Hong Kong and Taiwan only) a 456-page book entitled “The City-state of Anguish: The Origin and History of the Hong Kong People,” which argues that Hong Kong and China have few commonalities and different destinies. Hong Kongers, he says, are racially, culturally and linguistically distinct from the Han majority of northern China. And having been ruled from 1842 to 1997 by neither China’s Republicans nor its Communists but by the British, they have developed a separate religious, legal and political identity.
Such positions are provocative and, of course, highly controversial. “ Hong Kong is not China ” has become a favorite slogan of separatists here. And as this sentiment grows, the Chinese government and its local supporters repeat again and again that Hong Kong has been part of Chinese territory since ancient times.
Yet the historical record suggests a vastly different interpretation.
