Depression settles over Hong Kong
Five years of indirect Beijing rule has dimmed public confidence
John Gittings in Shanghai Saturday June 29, 2002 The Guardian
The celebration of the fifth anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China has been overshadowed by a set of opinion polls showing low public confidence in the territory's government. More than three out of four people believe that "the overall condition of Hong Kong has become worse [since] its reunification with China" - an increase of 10 percentage points since last year - according to a poll by Hong Kong University.
Fewer than one in five have confidence in the new ministerial team of the chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, announced this week, says another poll from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The high hopes of many Hong Kong citizens when the territory was handed back by Britain on July 1 1997 have waned sharply. A Hong Kong Transition Project poll shows that the proportion optimistic about the future has dwindled from 60% to 26%.
Monday's anniversary celebrations are expected to be attended by senior leaders from Beijing, led by President Jiang Zemin, who will also watch Mr Tung being inaugurated for a second five-year term.
Mr Tung, whom Beijing picked for the job before 1997, was "re-elected" unopposed this year by the 800-member "election committee" after Chinese leaders again made it clear that he was their only choice.
Financial confidence in Hong Kong has remained reasonably stable, contrary to some alarmist forecasts in 1997. The People's Liberation Army has kept a low profile. But critics say that China has ways of making its wishes felt to the government, which is already apt to defer too readily.
The rot set in, they say, in 1999 when Beijing "reinterpreted" - in effect rejected - a Hong Kong court decision on immigration.
The latest example is a statement by the vice-premier in charge of Hong Kong affairs, Qian Qichen, dashing the hope of greater democracy in future, even though this is envisaged in Chinese law.
Mr Qian said that the current system, in which only half the legislative council may be directly elected, should be "kept intact".
The other 30 members are chosen by business, professional and other interest groups, known as "functional constituencies", on a highly limited franchise.
Democrats' hopes were pinned on a provision in the Chinese basic law providing for a review of the electoral system after 2007, with the ultimate goal of "universal suffrage."
"[Mr Qian's statement] is a blatant breach of the 1984 joint declaration [by Britain and China]", the Democratic party leader, Martin Lee, said. "It should be up to the people of Hong Kong to decide."
Hong Kong's faith in its future is becoming increasingly shaky. Unemployment is a record 7.4%, consumer demand is sagging and there is a sense that the territory is no longer so vital to China.
Many feel that it has lost ground to mainland cities such as Shanghai, particularly since China joined the World Trade Organisation. Private investors and property companies in Hong Kong are flocking to join the boom there while property at home remains in the doldrums.
Beijing is stepping up the pressure on Hong Kong to enact the anti-subversion legislation called for in the basic law. Mr Qian said that the law could be used to ban the Falun Gong sect, which is illegal in mainland China.
But the Hong Kong secretary for justice, Elsie Leung, insisted that such legislation would not impose sanctions on the sect.
The government is obliged to tread a fine line between tolerating the sect, which is not illegal in the territory, and restricting its activities. In recent days its immigration department has refused admission to foreign supporters of Falun Gong.
Mr Tung says his new cabinet will be more accountable to the Hong Kong people.