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Back Issues
| Remembering the past | | Print | |
| Jul / Aug 2008 | |
 Lynne O'Donnell asks if the people of Hong Kong are bowing too heavily to the mainland.The line between patriotism and nationalism is becoming increasingly blurred in Hong Kong more than a decade after the former British colony reverted to Chinese sovereignty. Recent events have brought into relief the success of efforts by the central government in Beijing to tie loyalty to the ruling Communist Party to pride in being Chinese. The annual vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park to mourn those lost in the June 4, 1989 massacre, and a furore over officials holding foreign passports have inspired some commentators to wriggle out from beneath the government rhetoric which is increasingly taking hold in Hong Kong, where residents have long taken for granted freedoms their 1.3 billion compatriots north of the border do not share. Journalist Ching Cheong, who spent almost three years in a Chinese prison after being accused of espionage and peddling "state secrets," reminded readers of one newspaper to "be alert to any erosion of our core values," which he listed as rule of law, freedom - of thought, speech and expression - and respect for human rights. The man who always considered himself a "patriot" returned from his ordeal with a renewed sense of the values left behind by the departing British in 1997, and an apparent duty to exhort his fellow Hong Kongers to protect what they have that the Chinese Communist Party withholds from their fellow Chinese. Since June 1989, when the Chinese army opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Beijing, the government has skilfully transformed itself into the essence of Chinese identity, so much so that to be anything but wholly supportive of the totalitarian regime is to be unpatriotic. Government and nation are one. This has come into play in support for the Beijing Olympics - now a patriotic event to showcase the rise of a pretender to the "superpower" mantle. Riots in Tibet earlier this year that were mercilessly crushed by security forces were also neatly slotted into this category, with little time given to the historical reality that Tibet has not always been part of China and that the claims of political, economic and religious repression by some Tibetans could be well-founded. The world tour of the Olympic torch provided a flashpoint in some countries to highlight Beijing's appalling record on human rights and basic freedoms, and in Canberra, London, Paris and San Francisco people with these views legally expressed them. It was laughable that "patriotic" Chinese decried the nature of Western media coverage of these demonstrations on behalf of a regime that tightly controls all media within its borders, polices the Internet and is responsible for creating a new category of political prisoner, the "cyber dissident". When the torch came to Hong Kong, the streets were almost clear of ordinary people, as the celebrity bearers were flanked by Chinese security men, earpieces in place and eyes darting around for any sign of public disapproval of the farcical event. As elsewhere, busloads of mainland Chinese waving the flag of the Communist Party/nation had been strategically placed along the route to ensure the viewers back home saw only enthusiastic support. And then there was the earthquake. This terrible tragedy - overshadowed only by the even worse humanitarian disaster taking place in China's irredentist little brother, Myanmar - united Chinese in their shock, grief and support for the victims. Hong Kong people donated huge amounts of money and along with volunteers from all over China, and the world, raced to offer what other help they could. Chinese authorities, overwhelmed by the enormity of the catastrophe, were incapable of keeping tabs on how the quake was covered by both domestic and international media - until, that is, hard questions started being asked about the fundamental corruption that had led to the collapse of thousands of schools and the deaths of tens of thousands of children and their teachers. Then things tightened up once more and the true face of the Chinese Communist Party was back in place. In Hong Kong, a reluctance to appear critical of the regime at the time of such a tragedy was blamed for keeping the numbers down at the Victoria Park candlelight vigil. Emily Lau, former journalist and current legislator banned from China because she holds those "unpatriotic" views on democracy, law and freedoms, noted the targeting of "human rights defenders who raise politically sensitive issues" by Beijing has intensified in the years since the massacre. Almost 20 years later, she said, around 30 journalists are in prison and "at least 50 people have been jailed for posting their views on the Internet". In the midst of this, a handful of bureaucrats were pressured to give up their foreign passports, accused of lacking the requisite patriotic credentials by continuing to hold citizenship in a second country, as many here do. It seems the blurring of lines in Hong Kong has also extended to the freedom people have to choose what insurance they adopt against the gradual encroachment on their core values that is unquestionably taking place. ■
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