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The Battle for Hong Kong's Soul

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HONG KONG The rise of shadowy pro-Beijing protest groups is one visible sign of China’s campaign for control in Hong Kong The battle for Hong Kong’s soul BY GREG TORODE, JAMES POMFRET AND BENJAMIN KANG LIM PRO-DEMOCRACY FORCES: Tens of thousands in Hong Kong took part in a June 4 candelight vigil marking the 25th anniversary of the military crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. REUTERS/PAUL YEUNG SPECIAL REPORT 1 HONG KONG THE BATTLE FOR HONG KONG’S SOUL HONG KONG /BEIJING, JULY 1, 2014 ince Britain handed back colonial Hong Kong in 1997, retired prima- Sry school teacher and Falun Gong devotee Lau Wai-hing has fully exercised the freedoms China promised this city of 7.2 million. Lau and fellow believers regularly staged protests to explain the teachings of their spiritual movement and draw attention to the persecution of followers on the main- land, where the sect is banned. Until about a year ago, their protests were uneventful. That changed when a noisy rival group set up their placards and banners on the same pavement in the busy shopping area of Causeway Bay. VOTING TO VOTE: “Occupy Central” organizers (L-R) Chan Kinman, Benny Tai and Reverend Chu Yiu- The 63-year-old Lau and her fellow pro- ming announcing results of an unofficial referendum for full democracy. REUTERS/TYRONE SIU testers said they’ve been punched, shoved and sworn at since the newcomers from the “Care for the Youth Group Association for the Youth Group Association are part of Hong Kong” arrived with their blaring a campaign from the mainland to tighten loudspeakers. Each protest is now a battle control over China’s most freewheeling to be heard. “It is much more difficult now city. Increasingly, they say, Beijing is raising given these attacks, this external pressure, 1,200 its voice. In the streets, boardrooms, news- these forces from China,” said Lau amid The number of people currently rooms, churches and local government of- the amplified din on Sogo Corner, Hong on Hong Kong’s election fices, individuals and organisations with Kong’s neon-lit version of New York’s committee, which selects the links to the state and China’s Communist Times Square. Party are playing a bigger role in civil and For critics of the pro-Beijing govern- Hong Kong Chief Executive. political life, well-placed sources in Hong ment in Hong Kong, groups like the Care Source: Hong Kong government Kong and Beijing say. Creeping controls Since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, Beijing has gradually increased control over the territory even though Beijing promised wide-ranging freedoms and autonomy under the formula of “one country, two systems”, along with an undated promise of universal surage. July 1997 February 2001 June 2002 Hong Kong is handed back to China Hong Kong’s number two oicial, Chief Trial of 16 members of the Falun Gong a­er more than 150 years of British rule. Secretary Anson Chan, who opposed spiritual movement arrested during a Tung Chee-hwa, a Shanghai-born former Chinese interference in the territory's protest outside Beijing's Liaison Oice in shipping tycoon, is hand-picked by aairs, resigns under pressure from the territory. The 16 are found guilty of Beijing to rule the territory. Beijing. causing a public obstruction. SPECIAL REPORT 2 HONG KONG THE BATTLE FOR HONG KONG’S SOUL CRITIC AND CHIEF: Anson Chan (L) and Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. REUTERS/BOBBY YIP AND TYRONE SIU Whenever there are anti-government 160,000-strong civil service in the last years public protests, a pro-Beijing counter Leung Chun-ying is just a of British rule and continued in that role movement invariably appears. This year’s puppet for Beijing’s interests. for several years after the handover. 25th anniversary commemoration of the Chan cited as examples pressures on protests centred on Beijing’s Tiananmen Anson Chan Hong Kong companies not to advertise in Square drew a rival demonstration to defend Former head of Hong Kong’s Civil Service pro-democratic newspapers, attempts to China’s bloody crackdown on June 4, 1989. limit debate about democratic reform, and Mainland officials based in Hong Kong Residents of this global financial cen- the higher profile increasingly being taken now routinely seek to influence local media tre could not help noticing a more overt by Beijing’s official representatives in the city. coverage. sign of China’s rule in the former British “It’s not another Chinese city and it Catholic priests in Hong Kong report colony: Huge Chinese characters spelling shouldn’t become one. Hong Kong is that agents from China’s security service out “People’s Liberation Army” in a blaze unique,” said Chan. have stepped up their monitoring of prom- of neon alongside the military’s waterfront XI’S TOUGHER LINE inent clergy. headquarters that suddenly appeared at the And, Beijing’s official representative beginning of June. In China’s opaque political system, it is im- body, the Liaison Office of the Central For Beijing’s critics in Hong Kong, possible to determine whether the party’s People’s Government in Hong Kong, now the 1997 handover is feeling more like a growing clout in the territory is entirely is able to shape policy in the office of city takeover. the result of a campaign organised from on chief executive Leung Chun-ying, say two “Blatant interference is increasing,” high, or partly the doing of mainland and sources close to the city’s leader. says Anson Chan, who led Hong Kong’s local officials eager to please Beijing. Still, July 2003 April 2004 December 2007 Half a million people protest in the China rules that its approval must be Beijing says it will allow the people city against proposed anti-subversion sought for any changes to Hong Kong's of Hong Kong to directly elect their laws. The proposed laws were election laws, giving Beijing the right to own leader in 2017 and their legislators shelved. veto any moves towards more by 2020. democracy. SPECIAL REPORT 3 HONG KONG THE BATTLE FOR HONG KONG’S SOUL COUNTER-PROTEST: Hung Wai-shing, chairman of a pro-Beijing group called “Care for the Youth Group Association Hong Kong”. The group has been countering the protests of the Falun Gong spiritual group in Hong Kong, which is banned in the mainalnd. REUTERS/BOBBY YIP a tougher line on Hong Kong is coming Four of the largest multinational account- poll – a vote China’s State Council, or from the top. ing firms placed advertisements in local cabinet, called “illegal and invalid”, said the Despite promises that post-handover newspapers warning against the move- state Xinhua news agency. Hong Kong should enjoy a high degree of ment, which has been branded illegal by Fears that the screws are tightening were autonomy, China’s President Xi Jinping, is Chinese authorities. heightened when Beijing published an un- said to have decided that Beijing has been Occupy’s primary aim is to pressure precedented cabinet-level White Paper in too lenient. China into allowing a truly democratic June on Hong Kong. It bluntly reminded “Xi Jinping has rectified (China’s) policy election in 2017. Hong Kong that China holds supreme au- for governing Hong Kong,” a source close to Beijing says Hong Kong can go ahead thority over the city. the Chinese leader told Reuters in Beijing, with a vote in 2017 for the city’s top leader. “The high degree of autonomy of (Hong requesting anonymity. “In the past, the But mainland officials stress that Hong Kong) is not an inherent power, but one mainland compromised toward Hong Kong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, that comes solely from the authorisation by too much and was perceived to be weak.” specifies that only a nominating commit- the central leadership,” it says. This tightening grip has fuelled resent- tee can pick leadership candidates. Pro- The policy document took about a year to ment and sparked a civil disobedience democracy activists demand changes that prepare and was approved by the 25-mem- movement called “Occupy Central”, which would allow the public to directly nominate ber, decision-making Communist Party threatens to blockade part of Hong Kong’s candidates. Politburo around a month ago, a second main business district. Nearly 800,000 people voted in an un- source close to Xi told Reuters in Beijing. Mass protests can paralyse this high- official referendum that ended on Sunday, It’s a tricky issue for China’s new leader- density city. Business leaders have warned which called for Beijing to allow open ship. Hong Kong’s democratic experiment that Occupy could damage businesses: nominations of candidates for the 2017 Text continues on page 6 December 2009 July 2012 June 2014 Hong Kong unveils proposals for Leung Chun-ying takes oice as chief Nearly 800,000 people cast votes in political reform in response to pressure executive, succeeding Donald Tsang unoicial referendum on democratic for greater democracy, including an whose last months in oice were reforms in Hong Kong, part of a civil enlarged Legislative Council; critics say dogged by controversy over his links campaign branded illegal by the Hong the moves do not go far enough. with wealthy businessmen. Kong and Chinese governments. SPECIAL REPORT 4 HONG KONG THE BATTLE FOR HONG KONG’S SOUL The Party in Hong Kong’s underground BY GREG TORODE AND JAMES POMFRET Among dozens of suspected pro-Beijing groups registered with Hong Kong authorities as companies or societies, one is conspicuous by its absence – the Communist Party itself.
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