The Struggle for Democracy in Mainland China, Taiwan and HongKong
This book traces the evolution of Hong Kong democracy from British colonial times to late 2018. It focuses on two distinctive but related subjects that are the autonomy of the Legislative Council (LegCo) politics and the most basic level social movements. Emphatically, the book looks into interpreting the preceding and current governance of Hong Kong in the fight for democracy (Fulda, 2019). It aims at answering four questions that are; the reforms that initiated the battle for freedom, the strategic changes established, the impacts of the improvements, and the critical lessons learned. Precisely, the book outlines the struggles of Hong Kong lawmakers in working within the confines of a politically nullified LegCo.
The author also analyses how political lobbyists and Chief Security Officers opposed signing into law of Article 23 of the Basic Law. The law allows HKSAR to enact laws of their own to inhibit any acts of treason, secession, sedition, subversion from the Central People’s Government, theft of state secrets, operation of foreign political organizations in the region, and establishment of political ties with international organizations. The book also highlights the emergence of youth-led activism in 2012 that relates to the growth of localism or civic community and is against the Moral and National Education Policy. Through his research, Fulda traces the development of lobbyist groups such as Occupy Central with Love Peace (OCLP) and the Umbrella Movement (UM) to the emergence of an independent movement (2019). Although the Hong Kong democrats have fought vigorously against the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (HKSAR), they have also made unforced strategic and tactical errors.
The Rise of “Localism” and Civic Identity in Post-Handover Hong Kong
Identification of Hongkongers and the Chinese nation has always been a question of either complementary or contradictory relationship. While scholars cite the emergence of Hongkongers with the Chinese country to 1970s, studies show only younger generations of probably 2008 associate more strongly with a local community (Veg, 2017). Such research studies include documentations from the anti-National Education Movement in 2012 that presented the prevalence of the younger generations criticizing the widespread cultural nationalism. Furthermore, in 2014 the Umbrella Movement seconded the claim with distinct reports of a local community claiming for democracy and suffrage to self-determination. The article demonstrates the understanding of the two subtle identities through a dimensional approach that looks at their culture and civic life.
The report points out that the emergence of the localism surfaced into two distinct groups that were either affiliated to a local community or occurred as a result of cultural differences between Hongkongers and mainlanders. Emphatically, Chin Wan cited one group was mere anti-communists while the other was local culturists. The latter represented the pan-Chinese, which can connect with the Chinese culture. Nevertheless, the local community also alternately identified with the pan-Chinese, thus, revealing the shift towards localism as an effect of colonial depoliticization passed from one civic community to another. Moreover, with China taking pride in authoritarian governance, the growth of the local community continues being cohesive as they continually distance themselves from the cultural ethic terms with the Chinese nation. The rise of localism indicates that democracy is practically impossible in a non-sovereign state more so when the most significant part remains under the authoritarian government. Thus, the development of strategic essentialism rather than being autonomous.
An Economic Theory of Democracy
The book An Economic Theory of Democracy by Anthony Downs is a comprehensive analysis of government decision making from an economic perspective (Downs, 1957). Precisely, Downs formulates a theory of analyzing voting and voter turnout with an intriguing conclusion that a reasonable voter should practically never vote. Downs fascinating model denotes that voters typically compare the expected viability of having the incumbent party in government or the anticipated profitability of having the opposition in government. From a voters uncertainty stance, he elucidates that voters compare the profitability of the incumbent government to the utility of the contesting party under same conditions and makes a decision based on the party that would have performed better.
Besides, voters also consider trends where they make decisions based on the party that uses differentiated means to provide utility. To ascertain their stand, voters perform evaluation tests where Downs concludes such voting is retrospective as citizens either reward or punish the incumbent governments with their vote (Espondo & Pouzo, 2019). He, therefore, further finds that voters use shortcuts since there exist areas of the government with sublime differences to assort the subtle discrepancies in parties. Downs also accounts that voting in a multiparty setup is merely strategic with voters only voting to keep out the disliked party. Other than material costs of accessing the polling station and taking time off work, Downs highlights that the slim odds of one vote determining the outcome outweigh the benefits of voting. According to Downs, “the decision of supporting democracy accrues an infinitesimal probability of achieving democracy.” Thus, voters only vote to support democracy since a government for the people can survive long with a zero turnout (Downs, 1957, p. 124).
Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, “DE Way Out” Project Survey Results
With the emergence of civic communities, calls for cessation always loom in a strategic essentialism society. De Way Out is a project that seeks for termination of Hong Kong from Mainland China. In a presses release, Robert Chung, the President, and Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI) cited fair elections as a fundamental aspect in the success of their democratic society (“De Way Out,” 2007). The project seeks to collect public opinion regarding District Council Elections and the future of Hong Kong to solve the current problems. The research covered areas such as voter’s freedom of choice, and performance appraisal of the electioneering process. The report indicated that 68% of interviewed voters take the District Council Election as a referendum. The polls meant that the DCE was a mere expression of opinions about social topics.
Further results showed 69% of the interviewers did not comprehend that the elections will help stop the violence exhibited by the Mainland government. In other polls, 62% indicated that they were satisfied with the election results while 48% showed dissatisfaction citing the election was unfair. The five key grievances were the withdrawal of the extradition bill, an investigation into the purported police brutality and misconduct, the calls for release of detained protestors, removal of peaceful demonstrations as riots, and the support of resignation of Carrie Lam (Cai 2016; Lee et al., 2017). The results indicated 71% of the respondents supported the establishment of an independent commission into police brutality, 61% supported the release of arrested demonstrators, and 65% supported the resignation of Carrie Lam. In comparison, 63% supported the reorganization of the Hong Kong Police force. Generally, 70% of the interviewers supported government reforms (G. M. & GM37, 2019, December 8).
The Impact of Basic Law Interpretation on Hong Kong’s One Country Two Systems
The struggles of “One Country, Two Systems” began in July 1997 when Mainland China took over Hong Kong. As a result, the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China established the Hong Kong Basic Law, which allows the governance of Hong Kong as a Special Administration Region but specifying its relationship to Mainland China regarding the political, legal, economic, social, and the protection of human rights (Geping, & Zhenmin, 2007). Thus in the implementation of the established Hong Kong Basic Law, the regulations recognize both the standard law system of Hong Kong and the mainland law system of Mainland China.
However, the discrepancies have had a significant impact on Hong Kongers with various occurrences of controversial events. For instance, in June 2014, Beijing’s Interpretation criticizes Hong Kong Basic Law as having a lot of autonomy, which enormously differs from the authoritarian system in Mainland China. The interpretation attracted a lot of criticism from Hong Kongers who claimed the new rules undermined their sovereignty. The mass protests also presented a forum for students to demand their freedom regarding choice and electoral process in the election of the head of HKSAR (Pun, 2020). Another controversial impact was the prevalence in extrajudicial killing with the notable execution of five Causeway Bay Booksellers staff in 2015. The extrajudicial killing led to the suspicion of abduction of Hong Kongers by the Mainland officials, which violates the Basic Rule (Clarke, 2017). Besides, July 2018 saw the banning of Hong Kong National Party by the Chinese National Government with sedition allegations. Furthermore, August 2018 saw the Victor Mallet controversy where the Mainland government of China and Hong Kong revoked a show citing the talk touched on national sovereignty. The incident led to an intense debate concerning the freedom of expression, which the Basic rule adversely protected it.
References
Cai, Y. (2016). The Occupy movement in Hong Kong: Sustaining decentralized protest. Taylor & Francis.
Clarke, D. (2017). Street protest in Hong Kong since the handover. Wasafiri, 32(3), 51-60.
Downs, A. (1957). An economic theory of democracy.
Esponda, I., & Pouzo, D. (2019). Retrospective voting and party polarization. International Economic Review, 60(1), 157-186.
Fulda, A. (2019). The Struggle for democracy in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong: Sharp Power and Its Discontents. Routledge.
Geping, R., & Zhenmin, W. (2007). Hong Kong’s ‘One country, two systems’ experience under the Basic Law: two perspectives from Chinese legal scholars. Journal of Contemporary China, 16(52), 341-358.
-, G. M., By, -, & GM37. (2019, December 8). Survey: Hong Kong citizen’s attitude towards the District Council election. Retrieved from https://gnews.org/47949/
Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, “DE Way Out” Project Survey Results, 2007. Retrieved from the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute website: https://www.pori.hk/de-way-out
Lee, F. L., Chen, H. T., & Chan, M. (2017). Social media use and university students’ participation in a large-scale protest campaign: The case of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. Telematics and Informatics, 34(2), 457-469.
Pun, N. (2020). Reflecting on Hong Kong protests in 2019-2020.
Veg, S. (2017). The rise of “localism” and civic identity in post-handover Hong Kong: Questioning the Chinese nation-state. The China Quarterly, 230, 323-347.