Beijing’s Man in Hong Kong

What is to become of Beijing’s promise to honor a “one country, two systems” policy when it resumes sovereignty over Hong Kong six months from now? Judging from China’s recent actions, the people of Hong Kong are right to worry about that question. Beijing’s newly imposed “provisional legislature,” a hand-picked shadow government, will preside simultaneously with but separately from Hong Kong’s democratically elected Legislature. Until the June 30 hand-over from British rule, the provisionals will meet across the border in the Chinese district of Shenzhen, thereby avoiding legal challenges and protesters.

But upon resumption of Chinese rule, Beijing will dissolve the Hong Kong Legislature and, with it, laws intended to protect Hong Kong’s freedoms. A century and a half of British rule will come to an end and the task of preserving any semblance of autonomy will rest with Tung Chee-hwa, a shipping magnate chosen by Beijing earlier this month to be Hong Kong’s first post-colonial chief executive.

Though Beijing may like to believe the situation of Hong Kong will then become an internal matter, the world will be watching. Hong Kong residents rank the preservation of freedom of speech and press as most important, according to Hong Kong Policy Viewers, an independent polling group. Survey respondents said they want Tung to crack down on corruption, guard against abuse of power, maintain an independent judiciary and stand up to China on issues of autonomy. All of these will become his litmus tests, according to the authoritative Far Eastern Economic Review, and the challenges may not be long in coming.

Beijing officials have announced that Hong Kong residents will not be allowed to mock Chinese leaders or annually commemorate the infamous June 1989 Tiananmen massacre. Tung himself has said protests will be permitted within the law. But the Beijing-imposed provisional legislature will be defining the law.

Can Tung straddle the fence on issues like press criticism of Beijing’s policies on Tibet and Taiwan? He faces a host of such problems, and so far, despite his personal assurances to the contrary, he seems to be Beijing’s man. Tung Chee-hwa has his work cut out for him. His No. 1 priority ought to be protecting the Hong Kong system.