How Taiwan can avoid Hong Kong's sad fate

[dArKeR]

By Li Thian-hok ???

Monday, Apr 19, 2004,Page 8

When Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, China promised the Special Administrative Region a high level of autonomy except in foreign affairs and national defense. Hong Kong was to retain its free market economy and its way of life for 50 years. Under Hong Kong's Basic Law, two democratic reforms were implicitly promised: the selection of the chief executive by universal suffrage after 2007, and an increase in the number of seats in the Legislative Council (LegCo)elected by the people after 2008.

On April 6, the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress issued a binding interpretation of the Basic Law that it alone had the authority to determine the content and timing of any reform amendments. Hong Kong's leading pro-democracy lawmaker, Martin Lee (???), commented, "No freedom is safe because every clause in the Basic Law is subject to interpretation by the Standing Committee."

Deng Xiaoping's (???) "one country, two systems" principle has always been a rather misleading concept. The Basic Law was formulated to promote stability -- not democratic rule -- by concentrating power in the chief executive and the civil service and diluting the authority of LegCo. Democratic reforms were to be permitted only in incremental steps. But now, the prospects for democratic reform have become dim. In the next LegCo election in September, directly elected candidates will occupy half the chamber. But Beijing has threatened to dissolve the legislature if the pro-Bei-jing "patriots" do not retain control.

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