China Moves to Limit Self-Rule in Hong Kong

When China and Britain signed the deal settling the future of Hong Kong in late 1984, they pledged that the British colony would have its own elected legislature and “a high degree of autonomy.”

Those promises were part of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s concept of “one country, two systems.” China agreed that Hong Kong would be able to keep its capitalist system for 50 years after China reassumes sovereignty in 1997. Similar offers were made to Macao, the Portuguese colony that China will take over in 1999, and to Taiwan, which has refused to enter into negotiations.

Now, China is making clear that the idea of “one country, two systems” has its limits. China does not want any of the territories that it regains to have the sort of robust, Western-style democracy that might inspire opposition to Communist rule on the mainland itself.

Over the past few months, Chinese leaders from Deng on down have been exerting heavy pressure on the British government to slow down political reforms leading toward direct elections in Hong Kong.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian has met twice with British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe to discuss political developments in Hong Kong. And last month, Deng himself lowered the boom on a group of Hong Kong officials by bluntly warning that Hong Kong should not try to imitate democratic political systems such as those in Britain or the United States.

All that counts, he said, is that the territory should be run by Hong Kong people who are patriotic and who love Hong Kong. He said general elections do not necessarily guarantee that those who are chosen meet these requirements.

“After 1997, if in Hong Kong there are certain people who curse China and the Chinese Communist Party, we will allow them to do so,” Deng said. “However, it is not allowed to turn curses into action and turn Hong Kong into a base for opposing the Chinese mainland under the cloak of democracy.”

Limited Independence

The Chinese leader also said it is “not realistic” to think that China will leave Hong Kong completely alone and allow it to be politically independent of Beijing.

“If in Hong Kong something harmful to the country’s (China’s) fundamental interests or harmful to Hong Kong’s own fundamental interests happens, then can Beijing refrain from interfering?” he asked.

While Hong Kong’s economy continues to prosper, the effect of China’s recent actions has sparked a wave of pessimism about the territory’s political future. In particular, few people believe now that Hong Kong will be able to develop its own self-government in the way that the Sino-British agreement seemed to envision.

One prominent Hong Kong businessman, who refused to speak on the record, confided gloomily that it appears that Britain will simply hand over to China the reins of power in Hong Kong.

“We had a dictatorship before, and now there will simply be a change of dictator,” he said.

Many Fled Communist Rule

“The Chinese fear that the people of Hong Kong obviously do not like communism,” said Martin Lee, a local attorney and member of the colony’s Legislative Council. “Many people living here fled from Communist rule. The Chinese are worried that if people here are given a free vote, then they are unlikely to return to office people who sympathize with the Communist cause.”

The cynicism voiced in Hong Kong applies at least as much to Britain, which is still responsible for running the territory for the next 10 years, as it does to China. The commonly expressed view is that Britain is willing to sacrifice the interests of Hong Kong’s 5.5 million people to stay on good terms with China.

“No matter whether it’s a Conservative government or a Labor government or the Social Democrats, the British still believe that maintaining good relations with China is very important,” said Yeung Sum, chairman of a group called Meeting Point that has been lobbying for direct elections in Hong Kong. “Their moral responsibility to Hong Kong people will be outweighed by their diplomatic interest.”

A public opinion poll released last week indicated that of the 1.5 million households in Hong Kong, 9% now have at least one family member with residency rights in another country and another 8% have someone actively seeking to emigrate.

Among Hong Kong households with professionals or business executives, the percentage with at least one person who has either moved overseas or is trying to do so was higher, 23%. The poll was conducted by a prominent firm, Survey Research Hongkong, and was based on telephone interviews with 1,000 people in early April.

History of Paternalism

China ceded part of Hong Kong to Britain in the Treaty of Nanjing after the Opium War in 1842, and leased the bulk of the colony’s present area to Britain in 1898 for 99 years. Ever since, the British government has run it in paternalistic fashion, not bothering with the niceties of democracy that were being developed back home.

The governor of Hong Kong, appointed by the British Foreign Office in the name of the sovereign, has virtually unlimited authority over the territory. Until only a few years ago, the colony’s Legislative Council consisted entirely of civil servants and appointees of the governor.

Three years ago, shortly before signing the agreement with China, the British adopted a plan for a limited democratization in Hong Kong. They announced that in 1985, 24 of the 56 members of the Legislative Council would be chosen not by the governor but through indirect elections--by professional groups, such as lawyers and bankers, or by locally elected district representatives in Hong Kong neighborhoods.

That election was supposed to be merely the first step towards political change in Hong Kong. The British government pledged to revise the system once again before the next legislative elections in 1988 and held open the possibility that at least some seats would be chosen through direct elections.

Hong Kong political activists have been urging that one-quarter of the legislative seats be chosen by direct elections in 1988.

Direct Vote Worries China

It is this prospect of a popular vote in Hong Kong next year that has aroused the concern of Chinese officials. The British government is planning to begin its review of the political system this month. China has been seeking to persuade the British not to open the way for direct elections.

“The Chinese have made it plain that they don’t want direct elections in 1988,” said one source familiar with the recent discussions between China and British officials. “The Chinese think that direct elections would be a destabilizing thing for Hong Kong, especially during the transition period” between now and 1997.

The source said China is also contending that “as a matter of principle,” Britain should hold off from making major changes in Hong Kong’s political system until after China finishes enacting a written constitution for governing Hong Kong after 1997.

This constitution, or “Basic Law,” is supposed to be adopted by the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, in 1990. China controls a majority of the seats on the committee drafting the legislation.

Deng for Gradual Change

In his public remarks last month, Deng held open the vague possibility that there might be “universal suffrage” in Hong Kong some day, but he said the change should be introduced gradually.

Deng pointedly reminded Hong Kong officials that China will have the power to call out People’s Liberation Army troops stationed in Hong Kong after 1997. However, he said this would be done only “if big disturbances break out.”

Chinese officials are also said to feel that it is unfair for the British to introduce democracy in Hong Kong now, a decade before China takes over, when Britain has not felt it necessary to do so during the previous 140 years.

Some Hong Kong activists believe that China’s strong reaction represents a more general fear of what will happen in the final years of British rule.

“The Chinese government may not trust the British,” said Yeung of Meeting Point. “The process of British decolonization in India or Malaya (now part of Malaysia) or Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) has been quite chaotic.”

British officials in Hong Kong decline to discuss the colony’s political developments on the record. One Hong Kong government official familiar with the British viewpoint said the British aim is avoid antagonizing the Chinese in such a way that China would decide to permanently outlaw direct elections in Hong Kong after 1997.

Readiness for Democracy

Some British officials are also known to believe that the people of Hong Kong, among the most affluent and educated anywhere in Asia, are not yet ready for democracy.

“For a democratic system to work, people have to understand it, to know what it is, to believe in it,” said one official who opposes direct elections. “We don’t have that here.” This official asserted that any elections in Hong Kong would be covertly manipulated by the Communist Party and by Taiwan’s Kuomintang (Nationalist Party).

The suspicions that the British have been trying to suppress political dissent in the colony before the Chinese take over were compounded earlier this spring when the administration hastily enacted a new law governing the press.

Although the new law wipes out some provisions allowing for British censorship of the Hong Kong press, it also includes a new provision allowing punishment of anyone in Hong Kong who publishes “false news” that is “likely to cause alarm.” These phrases were not defined in the law itself.

The Hong Kong government recently issued guidelines defining narrowly who might be prosecuted under the provision, but these guidelines do not have the force of law and could be changed at any time.

Avoided Offending China

It was also disclosed recently that without any specific legal authority to do so, the administration has for years been banning movies that it feels could offend China. The British government maintained that no specific legal authorization to ban movies was necessary, but has now proposed a new law, called the Film Censorship Bill, to clarify its power in this area.

David K.P. Li, chief executive of the Bank of East Asia and a member of the Legislative Council, said he believes that the new press law was “a wrong piece of legislation. . . . It gave the impression that Britain and China were working together against the Hong Kong people.”

A spokesman for the Hong Kong government denied that Hong Kong or British officials consulted with China before enacting the new press law.

Lee, the Hong Kong attorney, who has emerged as the most prominent and outspoken advocate of democracy in the colony, said he believes that China has made a deliberate decision to exert a heavy hand over Hong Kong now.

“They feel it’s much better to stifle the momentum towards direct elections, before strong public opinion is formed,” he said.

The recent developments have left Hong Kong residents with the impression that China will go to great lengths to keep a strong movement for democracy from building up here in the final decade of British rule.

“I think if they have to bring out Deng Xiaoping to say something about this, they must feel very strongly,” said Li, the banker.