When delivering his third policy address on Wednesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying slammed the advocacy of Hong Kong self-determination for the first time, which indicates that mainstream society in Hong Kong has grown vigilant to the ludicrous calls for independence.
Leung also singled out Undergrad, an official publication of Hong Kong University Students' Union. The journal published a cover story in February last year calling for Hong Kong's self-determination. In September it issued a special edition on Hong Kong democracy and independence, in which an article compares Hong Kong to Singapore and even estimates the number of conscripts and arms it can gather.
The article imagines that strife will break out and lead to independence for Hong Kong. This is the type of nonsense published in the journal.
Chin Wan-kan, an assistant professor with Lingnan University, has been advocating independence and was ordered to report to the police on January 19 for investigation.
Both mainstream Hong Kong society and China as a whole were hesitant at first as to how to deal with these independence forces. Their pseudo-propositions initially looked like a joke and were often taken as an exaggeration of discontent that was not necessarily related to politics. Then the joke gradually gained momentum and some extremist and marginalized forces appeared to use it as a political tool.
Mainstream society has ignored these independence activists, but they still did not perish. It's not impossible that they will become one of the major problems facing Hong Kong and become a tool subject to external forces.
Independence forces are in contradiction to Hong Kong's Basic Law and are unacceptable. Both the central government and Hong Kong should figure out how to punish those who propagate talk of independence, such as barring Chin from the Chinese mainland.
Separatism usually starts with promoting nativism, then constructs political organizations to turn a few people's ideas into a trend and finally into political confrontation. The Hong Kong independence movement is in the first phase and seemed to accelerate its transition to the second phase by exploiting the divisions the independence forces caused.
There are two extreme ways of thinking. The first is to step back, which may result in opposition forces being given more rights than they should have under the Basic Law. The other is to take tough measures to combat these forces. Neither is workable.
China is powerful and the majority in Hong Kong opposes extremists. But the question lies in how to turn the majority's advantages into a realistic instrument that can suppress independence forces and meanwhile heighten the solidarity within Hong Kong and between it and the mainland. This is not a test of strength, but of political determination and wisdom.
Leung also singled out Undergrad, an official publication of Hong Kong University Students' Union. The journal published a cover story in February last year calling for Hong Kong's self-determination. In September it issued a special edition on Hong Kong democracy and independence, in which an article compares Hong Kong to Singapore and even estimates the number of conscripts and arms it can gather.
The article imagines that strife will break out and lead to independence for Hong Kong. This is the type of nonsense published in the journal.
Chin Wan-kan, an assistant professor with Lingnan University, has been advocating independence and was ordered to report to the police on January 19 for investigation.
Both mainstream Hong Kong society and China as a whole were hesitant at first as to how to deal with these independence forces. Their pseudo-propositions initially looked like a joke and were often taken as an exaggeration of discontent that was not necessarily related to politics. Then the joke gradually gained momentum and some extremist and marginalized forces appeared to use it as a political tool.
Mainstream society has ignored these independence activists, but they still did not perish. It's not impossible that they will become one of the major problems facing Hong Kong and become a tool subject to external forces.
Independence forces are in contradiction to Hong Kong's Basic Law and are unacceptable. Both the central government and Hong Kong should figure out how to punish those who propagate talk of independence, such as barring Chin from the Chinese mainland.
Separatism usually starts with promoting nativism, then constructs political organizations to turn a few people's ideas into a trend and finally into political confrontation. The Hong Kong independence movement is in the first phase and seemed to accelerate its transition to the second phase by exploiting the divisions the independence forces caused.
There are two extreme ways of thinking. The first is to step back, which may result in opposition forces being given more rights than they should have under the Basic Law. The other is to take tough measures to combat these forces. Neither is workable.
China is powerful and the majority in Hong Kong opposes extremists. But the question lies in how to turn the majority's advantages into a realistic instrument that can suppress independence forces and meanwhile heighten the solidarity within Hong Kong and between it and the mainland. This is not a test of strength, but of political determination and wisdom.
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