Understanding Hong Kong's chaos in 800 words

(4 May) Hong Kong's chaos is caused by its eventual grafting onto China's authoritarian soil two decades after the transfer of sovereignty.

Hong Kong was intended to have been ruled directly by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Before Britain pulled out, however, it unexpectedly drove a wedge in the plan with the Sino-British Joint Declaration. From that, the Basic Law was derived. China was left stuck with a shell. At the time, there was no way to absorb Hong Kong into the CCP's regime.

This is because Hong Kong has an "elected" chief executive and a special administrative government. This ruling class is surrounded by the restrictions of the Legislative Council, a powerless dictatorship and no aspirations to take over. Because the civil servants groomed by so-called British Hong Kong only know how to implement, they lack the knowledge or will to rule, to say nothing of dictatorship.

A society must first have "dictatorship" before "authoritarianism". Authoritarianism means that the dictator imposes his philosophy of governance on his people. 

Authoritarianism can be transformed into totalitarianism at any time. When the dictator feels that controlling the direction of governance is not enough, he can further control the people's thoughts and actions with ever stricter and more punitive measures.

When punishment leans towards cruelty, like when private conversations are reported by neighbours and lead to capital punishment, totalitarianism becomes tyranny.

The above four methods of governance have varied throughout Chinese history. Hong Kong's problem is that while sovereignty has already been transferred, China had no way to absorb Hong Kong into its belly of authoritarian or totalitarian rule. Even if inhaled, it is stuck in indigestion. This is very upsetting for China. "Why am I subject to totalitarian rule while you Hong Kong people are left unscathed?" The Chinese people burn with thoughts of envy, desperately hoping to witness the 7 million Hongkongers share their same fate. This is the deep-seated reason Mainland Chinese netizens willingly follow orders to curse Hongkongers, "Why don't you want to be Chinese?"

Hong Kong's chaos is nothing more than China's process of transforming it from the originally promised "two systems" into "one country". China kept saying it was an "acclimatisation period" but actually meant it to be the digestion of Hongkongers' so-called elitism. Even the so-called immature democracy in Hong Kong politics is to be digested away, step by step.

Some may ask, "How is this good for China? China needs to keep Hong Kong as an international gateway for foreign exchange." This question is based on rational thought and common sense from the West and overall humanity. The mindset of communist-ruled China is very different from the common wisdom of the West, however.

The Communist Party is a very contrary beast: both avaricious of Hong Kong's profits and loathsome of Hongkongers' freedom. Each day that they are out of its control is a day of unease for the Communist Party.

The Communist Party certainly understands that the Chinese renminbi is not an international currency. To maintain Hong Kong as a channel for exchanging of foreign capital, it is necessary to preserve some of Hong Kong's freedoms, which Hongkongers naively insist is "CCP's enlightened liberalism". But from one moment of mental clarity to the next moment where emotions surge from the heart and overwhelm common sense, a fit of seething anger develops. This is called "radicalism".

They are two sides of the same coin. Those who understand Hong Kong's chaos immediately know that it is the CCP's heart and brain in constant battle. The CCP's body holds two warring voices. One stems from profit and believes that Hong Kong's sustenance is advantageous to itself. The other comes from instinct and thinks, "Under what grounds do you Hong Kong people not need my control?"

These two voices are a torment to the CCP and leave 1.4 people puzzled. They are the source of suffering in Hongkongers today.

Source: Apple Daily 

https://hk.lifestyle.appledaily.com/lifestyle/columnist/陶傑/daily/article/20200504/20911574/