[Wuhan Pneumonia] From "new coronavirus" to "bureau virus" in Hong Kong

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Author: Contributing writer

2020-02-25 12:21

After the Spring Festival, Hong Kong has still not been able to shake off the turbulent social atmosphere. The "anti-revision case storm" that has lasted for more than half a year has not yet subsided, and then a new type of coronavirus pneumonia originated from Wuhan. With the spread of the virus in local communities and the first local death in Hong Kong, Hong Kong has fallen into a public health crisis. According to common sense, non-political issues, especially those related to the safety of everyone, such as anti-epidemic, should be easier to win social support. However, the government ’s lack of a forward-looking epidemic prevention plan and a post-knowledge anti-epidemic response has further worsened the relationship between citizens and the government. This can't help but wonder why the efficient administrative system that Hong Kong once took pride in has fallen into the field today. Why does Hong Kong society exude fear and anxiety even before the SARS period in 2003? This article aims to analyze the political factors related to this and think about how Hong Kong can get out of the trough.

Written by: Shi Zhongjian

After the anti-revision storm, the SAR government team headed by Lin Zhengyue has lost enough credibility to lead and govern Hong Kong. The government's sluggish response several times, and the dissatisfaction of the general society that no major Hong Kong official has been held accountable, have led to increasing public opposition. Even in the formation camp, one after another expressed public anger and harsh criticism towards the government.

Hong Kong government centrifugal alienates from Germany

In recent weeks, there have been successive pictures of daily necessities, such as rice and toilet paper, being emptied in supermarkets. On the one hand, it reflects the importance, fear and fear of the epidemic in Hong Kong. On the other hand, it is also a "vote of no confidence" cast by the masses on the government. The spread of the epidemic is getting worse. This has not only disrupted the wishful thinking of the Hong Kong Government originally "to stay away from politics and return to the people's livelihood", but also unveiled the government's abuses. When political deficiencies and system imbalances make even the people ’s livelihood inadequate, the public in Hong Kong seems to have reached a consensus: even if it is related to political reforms or accountability for the storm of the past year, even the most supportive of free or so-called “light blue” citizens support People's livelihood assistance cannot be done by the current government.

The outbreak of the new pneumonia epidemic unveiled the abuses of the SAR Government's governance. (Photo / Photo by Zhang Haowei)

The more mistakes the government makes, the more people with social ability and influence will be reluctant to approach the government and unwilling to assist it, thereby weakening the government's ability to govern and becoming a vicious circle. As far back as last summer, Lin Zhengguang invited "interested people" to establish a dialogue platform (now without any news) to eat behind closed doors. Recently, many authoritative medical experts have publicly criticized the government for its slow response to epidemic prevention and epidemic prevention, leaving citizens in hot water. The dilemma faced by the government in finding a suitable place for quarantine or quarantine clearly shows that they have severely lacked the ability to mobilize. Therefore, many suggestions provided by the public, such as borrowing Disney hotels, cruise ships, non-governmental organization's suburban facilities, outlying island facilities, etc., often fail. In the face of the epidemic, Hong Kong needs a leader who can bring society together. Obviously, even if the Hong Kong government today has the intention, it is already powerless. An isolated government has no way to effectively govern.

The so-called structural problems of Hong Kong's political system refer to problems arising from the design of the political system itself. These problems cannot be entirely attributed to the multiple steps of the universal suffrage process. The ill-fought political system cannot be fully resolved with a simple universal suffrage, because although the popular slogan is sound, it does not solve the fundamental disconnect between Hong Kong's power and elites and the grassroots. Successive administrative mistakes naturally cannot be separated from the Chief Executive and his principal officials. They will ultimately bear the greatest responsibility for Hong Kong's current situation. However, to really find a solution that can bring Hong Kong out of the trough and "return to the right track", we must start to explore the underlying deep problems, because changing soups and not changing medicines will only be deceiving ourselves.

Need to reform accountability and rebuild public confidence

First, the existing accountability system lacks effective accountants. Since the first chief executive, Tung Chee Hwa, promoted the accountability system for principal officials, the principal officials were no longer promoted directly by the civil service system and were replaced by contracts. The power of the chief accountable officials was concentrated on the chief executive. Although there have been cases in the past where the former Financial Secretary Liang Jinsong and the former Secretary of Security Ye Liu Shuyi resigned, this kind of reliance on the chief executive accountant often conflicts because of the interest relationship between the accountant and the person being held accountable. Especially when the Chief Executive himself must be held accountable, loopholes that require accountants to "self-monitor" will appear. After more than eight months of unrest, society has now bundled chief executives and officials into one. For example, after receiving a report from the hotel, the Department of Health has not effectively identified and isolated individual patients with new pneumonia in a timely manner. Many people have criticized the chief executive for improper employment or weak governance.

In addition, this system is also vulnerable to the personal factors of the chief executive. If the chief executive has the thinking that he must not "change to another position" before the crisis, or the accountable person is his personal credibility, in these cases, the chief executive cannot serve as an effective accountant at all. When the accountability system concentrates the subtext of power and accountability on a small group of people, any personnel transfer will bring serious dilemmas to the SAR government and Beijing: without accountability, more Hong Kong people will be completely disappointed with the government I feel that the Hong Kong government does not even have the adjustment space owned by the first-tier cities in the Mainland. Accountability is equivalent to changing positions, and the risk is too great. The dilemma of the dilemma, the government will only get deeper and deeper.

The epidemic has greatly affected the daily lives of the people, and the disappointing performance of the government has made people's hearts inevitably inevitable. (Photo / Photo by Lu Yiming)

Second, policy implementation is hampered by bureaucratic conservative attitudes and thinking. Full and rigorous research before implementing the policy is an excellent way of working practice. However, when the evaluation process becomes too lengthy, and whenever suggestions are obtained, all of them are skeptical and give a negative response, and "rigorousness" becomes a ideological barrier that limits creative power. This kind of governance method is not only beneficial to society, but also causes Great bounce sound. Especially in the face of emergencies such as the outbreak, this attitude will make people feel that the government has not considered the issue from the perspective of the citizens who are in "hot waters", which has aroused public outrage.

Since mid-to-late January, facing the tight supply of masks, the Hong Kong Government has been slow to launch any policies. It wasn't until the price of personal hygiene items soared that masks on the market had become rare. The government said that it sought help from the State Council, purchased masks from other regions, and sought ways to increase the supply of local masks. Many senior officials, instead of starting from the citizen's point of view, think about how to dispel the public's doubts or anxieties. Instead, they publish official-like answers and information to the public in accordance with the established and "scenario". Although the Singapore government's relevant anti-epidemic materials are also insufficient, it can at least integrate the people's psychology into the "heart war room" and take appropriate measures to prevent rumors from flying.

Grasp the national conditions and the national conditions and balance the interests of China and Hong Kong

Third, under the "one country, two systems", the actual positioning and functioning of the Hong Kong and Macao mechanisms between the SAR government and the central government and Hong Kong have been ambiguous. Some SAR officials may have forgotten that, as representatives of the Hong Kong people, they must reflect the Hong Kong people's position and aspirations when seeking coordination from the central government. As a member of China, Hong Kong has an absolute obligation to share the concerns of the country. But when the medical system is overwhelmed and Hong Kong's dense population provides a very dangerous hotbed for the virus outbreak, it is absolutely necessary for the government to show the pros and cons to the central authorities and defend the interests of Hong Kong people reasonably.

A deeper problem is that Hong Kong is now full of two mainstream voices. One is that the central government should take over Hong Kong's affairs with a strong force and put down the semi-dead principle of "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong" early, so as to ensure that the government can perform strong administration. On the other side, many Hong Kong people who have lost confidence in the implementation of "one country, two systems" believe that only by participating in a fierce and unrealistic Hong Kong independence movement can Hong Kong's interests be safeguarded. Hong Kong needs a government that is willing to cooperate with the central economic and political development, but when it is possible to touch the core interests of Hong Kong people, it proposes a compromise solution that can achieve a win-win situation. Each generation of Chinese leaders has their own vision or political ambitions. If the leaders of Hong Kong people do not even have the ability to grasp the national conditions and understand the central intentions, how can they talk about governing and leading Hong Kong? A government that only obeys orders but does not have the flexibility to find a win-win solution will only become a "four dislikes" that are not human on both sides.

What Hong Kong needs now is a politician who can convince the central authorities to consider a win-win solution between the two places. (Photo by Ou Jiale)

Finally, whether it is the anti-revision of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance or the outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia, it turns out that there needs to be a leader who knows the central bottom line and understands the role Hong Kong can play in the domestic development. At the same time, the team must be courageous enough to say "no" to the ideological monopoly of "left rather than right." A friend of foreign scholars commented on the central government's policy of ruling Hong Kong: "Beijing governs Hong Kong, and it is stricter than Beijing governs Macau or Shanghai." Mutual trust keeps dropping to new lows. This is not necessarily the fault of either party, but on the whole, the coordination mechanism between the dry ports has fundamental problems. Nowadays, there are major personnel deployments in the Hong Kong, Macao and China Joint Offices. However, what really deserves attention is not the issue of individual officials ’staying, but the highest leadership of Zhongnanhai obviously intentionally abandoning the past“ do-it-yourself ”approach to Hong Kong. Rule for action.

"Governance for action" is not the same as "coercion." But in the process of transforming from "doing nothing by doing" to "doing something by doing", Hong Kong people can definitely play a key role. If Hong Kong people can show it to the central government, properly expanding the political space will not threaten national security or economic stability. I believe that the central government is not a monolithic one, let alone as some extreme media say, there is no room for concession. What Hong Kong needs at this time is precisely the politician who can convince the central government to consider a win-win solution between the two places, so that Hong Kong's political talent pool can be reborn through the appropriate introduction of competition and the catfish effect that it has spawned. Hong Kong should adjust its political system step by step and then carefully, so that Hong Kong can have high-quality governance in a political system without universal suffrage. Hong Kong people deserve a better government and those in power to promote political reform, but we do not need a subversive so-called "revolution".

Shi Zhongjian:

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Published in the 202nd issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly (February 23, 2020).

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Lin Zhengyue, Wuhan Pneumonia Government