The fifth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong continues to rage, with new confirmed cases hitting new highs in a single day, accompanied by deaths mainly of the elderly and children.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President Xi Jinping has rarely given important instructions recently, requiring the SAR government to earnestly assume the main responsibility and must do three "everythings" and two "ensures".
This is undoubtedly a big spur to the anti-epidemic work led by Chief Executive Carrie Lam, which involves the governance consciousness of the elites in Hong Kong. In fact, Hong Kong people really need to take this crisis as an opportunity to carry out a cognitive revolution.
The fifth wave of the epidemic continues to rage in Hong Kong. The number of newly confirmed cases in a single day has repeatedly hit new highs, and the medical system is overloaded.
The current crisis is challenging the governance cognition of Hong Kong elites.
(Photo by Li Zetong)
Xi Jinping recently entrusted Vice Premier Han Zheng to the Chief Executive Carrie Lam to convey his high attention to the epidemic in Hong Kong and his cordial care for the people of Hong Kong, stressing that the Hong Kong SAR government should take the main responsibility and take stabilizing the epidemic as soon as possible as the overriding task at present, and mobilize All the forces and resources that can be mobilized, take all necessary measures to ensure the life safety and physical health of Hong Kong citizens, and to ensure the stability of the overall situation of Hong Kong society; in addition, Xi Jinping also asked all relevant central departments and localities to fully support and help the Hong Kong SAR government to do Good anti-epidemic work.
Undoubtedly, Hong Kong's current overriding task is to prevent and control the epidemic, which is not only politically correct, but also correct for people's livelihood.
As the central government, it bears the ultimate responsibility for the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. Therefore, it is both politically correct and a constitutional requirement to provide support and full support at the time of Hong Kong's epidemic crisis.
At the same time, taking the fifth wave of the epidemic as an opportunity, Hong Kong also urgently needs to carry out a cognitive revolution, which is a revolution of more lasting and broad significance than the 2019 slogan of "revolution of the times". This not only determines whether Hong Kong can stabilize and control the epidemic, but also determines whether the deep-seated structural contradictions that have plagued Hong Kong's development can be completely put in order. "How far can this unprecedented institutional design go?
Specifically, this "cognitive revolution" is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
First, Hong Kong's biggest enemy is liberalism, not socialism.
For a long time, Hong Kong society has regarded socialism as a monstrous beast, and has become synonymous with backwardness, autocracy and uncivilization.
Correspondingly, liberalism has become an unshakable belief of Hong Kong people.
Specifically, the SAR government, under the guidance of liberalism, actively does not intervene economically and does not interfere politically. Therefore, when Hong Kong has been ranked as the world's freest economy for many years, it will be used as an achievement to show off.
The result of the proliferation of liberalism is that the deep-seated problems and contradictions in Hong Kong are becoming more and more difficult to return, and the fairness and justice that people expect are becoming more and more difficult to achieve.
The fifth wave of the epidemic struck, and the contradictions and problems were more fully exposed.
For example, since public medical resources cannot bear the increasing number of confirmed patients, the SAR government has adopted a synchronized "home-based anti-epidemic" model since February 8, but ignored the cramped living space in Hong Kong, and there is no "home-based anti-epidemic" model at all. This led to the rapid spread of intra-family transmission; for another example, before this round of epidemic broke out and got out of control, the SAR government had a window of opportunity, but in order to ensure the people's demand for "freedom" during the festival, the government did not strengthen it before the Spring Festival. The implementation of epidemic prevention regulations and the intensity of punishments only depended on the cooperation of citizens and their own consciousness, until extreme events such as the "Hongmen Banquet" occurred.
The epidemic in Hong Kong is on the verge of getting out of control, and more and more social problems are emerging.
(Hong Kong 01)
It can be said that since the return of Hong Kong 25 years ago, the top-down cognitive myth that needs to be dispelled most is the blind worship of liberalism.
Zeng Haonian, a Ph.D. of Peking University who was born and raised in Hong Kong, once wrote an analysis during the turmoil of the amendments. Hong Kong's long-standing liberal beliefs have gone bankrupt, and the current social chaos is a living proof.
One of the major ideological blind spots in Hong Kong is the lack of practical criticism of economic and political liberalism, and the inability to establish a consensus on criticizing liberalism in mainstream society.
When the internal pressure of the society broke out, because "liberalism" was the only option, the society could only pursue "more freedom" in the name of (especially political liberalism, because "economic liberalism" is almost universal in Hong Kong. It has reached the extreme, and there is nothing to fight for it) to vent the grievances of the people.
Secondly, the European and American model is not a perfect beacon, and the mainland model is not a beast.
For a long time, Hong Kong has been accustomed to benchmarking against Europe and the United States, and regards Europe and the United States as a model and a perfect beacon for all aspects of learning.
In particular, the huge number of civil servants, politicians and elites who dominate the entire operation of Hong Kong have always been separated from the country in terms of economy and identity, and believe that they belong to the alliance of Western values and are part of Western culture.
Under the guidance of Western-centrism, it is believed that Western culture is superior to Chinese culture, the Western nation is superior to the Chinese nation, and the Western system is superior to the Chinese system.
There is only one way for the development of world civilization, and that is to go to the Western-style political and economic model. There can be no other cultural models. Only the Western way is the ideal destination.
Correspondingly, it is the assumption and ignorance of the mainland model.
When the fifth wave of the epidemic broke out, the SAR government was swaying between the two epidemic prevention models of "dynamic clearing" and "coexisting with the virus". The debate at the social level is precisely because of the long-term perception of the European and American models and the mainland model. A direct manifestation of the trap.
As Duowei News analyzed in "Hong Kong Epidemic Outbreak: What the Warnings from Beijing's Two Mouthpieces Mean", with Hong Kong as a carrier, "dynamic clearing" and "coexisting with the virus" seem to be just two epidemic prevention strategies. It also contains a contest between "two systems," "two ideologies," and "two roads."
This kind of contest has become more and more prominent after the epidemic has continued to spread for two years.
For Hong Kong, there are historical reasons for the admiration of the European and American models, but in the face of the epidemic, in the face of the urgent need for the safety and health of citizens, and in the face of the reality that more and more elderly people and 3-year-old children are dying from the epidemic, We cannot and should not continue to indulge in the cognitive traps of the past, and continue to hover between "dynamic clearing" and "coexisting with the virus".
You must know that "dynamic clearing" or "coexisting with the virus" is never a multiple-choice question. In any country or region, if the ruler can achieve "dynamic clearing" and satisfy the public, why not? Happy but not?
"Coexisting with the virus" is a last resort and a last resort.
On this issue, there is no room for Hong Kong to lie flat, and it must make every effort to "dynamically clear" the mainland's epidemic prevention model.
In the end, "One Country, Two Systems" is not dead, but is changing its "living law".
In the past few years, especially after the turmoil over the amendments, Beijing launched the "National Security Law for the Hong Kong Area" by means of thunder, and revised the electoral system. It has fully learned from the past lessons of "well water does not violate river water", and has strengthened its overall governance power. As well as the presence of the Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong, Hong Kong society began to permeate the pessimistic view that "one country, two systems is dead".
Duowei News once analyzed in "Is "One Country, Two Systems" Dead?", asserting that "One Country, Two Systems" in Hong Kong is dead, although it can create a kind of tragic under the power, but subjective feelings are more than objective analysis.
There are three main reasons for saying that "one country, two systems" is dead: First, after the revision of the electoral system, "Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong and a high degree of autonomy" have been severely curtailed, and the "patriotic ruling Hong Kong" advocated by Beijing stifles freedom and democracy Second, they assert that the revision of the electoral system is tantamount to tearing up the Basic Law’s promise of universal suffrage; third, they believe that the Hong Kong National Security Law has seriously eroded the freedoms of Hong Kong people since the implementation of the National Security Law, and the promise of “fifty years unchanged” has gone bankrupt.
On January 31, 2021, Luo Huining, director of the Hong Kong Liaison Office, appeared in the Hong Kong Police Force for inspection.
(Xinhua News Agency)
With the raging of the fifth wave of the epidemic, especially the words and deeds of the central government on the issue of aid to Hong Kong, this misunderstanding of Hong Kong people should be broken.
Because despite the severe epidemic prevention situation in Hong Kong, the central government still follows the system design of "one country, two systems".
For example, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council emphasized that "as long as Hong Kong asks, the motherland will meet it." The meaning of the statement could not be clearer, that is: on the issue of supporting Hong Kong's epidemic prevention, the model of the mainland will not be adopted, and the central government will unify Scheduling is a game of chess across the country, but the "demand" of Hong Kong must come first, and then the "response" of various aspects of the mainland.
In the past period of time, many Hong Kong people have called on the mainland to take action quickly, but Beijing has maintained sufficient strategic determination. Just like during the turmoil of the amendment, the more the time of crisis, the more necessary to follow the "one country, two systems".
Tian Feilong, associate professor of the Law School of Beihang University and director of the National Hong Kong and Macau Research Association, said in an interview with Hong Kong 01 that "one country, two systems" has determined that the central government cannot directly take over or direct orders, but can only provide human and material support.
However, just like the failure of the West to fight the epidemic was not due to the lack of human and material resources, the central government's resource support for Hong Kong will hardly change the basic system and values of Hong Kong's fight against the epidemic, and it is difficult to bridge the gap highlighted by the "two systems".
As for the misunderstanding that "one country, two systems" is dead, Tian Feilong said, "One country, two systems" is definitely not dead, why?
China's modernization process is still in progress, and the transformation of "one country, two systems" into "one country, one system" is not in line with the overall interests of China's modernization, nor in line with the basic strategic plan for national rejuvenation and globalization formulated by the Communist Party of China.
Because the CCP sees the success of "one country, two systems" as part of China's renaissance.
But "one country, two systems" must be a "living law" defined by China itself, so in fact it is not a question of how it will die, but what kind of new living law it has. That's why some people mentioned the second return of Hong Kong. Version 2.0 of "One Country, Two Systems", the second half of "One Country, Two Systems".
Just as the turmoil of the amendment bill that broke out in 2019 tore apart and severely damaged Hong Kong society, and completely exposed the deep-seated contradictions in Hong Kong, the fifth wave of the epidemic that is spreading across Hong Kong has also brought about various problems and contradictions in Hong Kong. Presented in front of people: the inefficient governance capacity of the SAR government, the ambiguity in the selection of anti-epidemic models and paths, the economic structure is highly dependent on the interpersonal service industry, and the aging is serious.
Behind these visible problems and contradictions, there are deeper cognitive traps that need to be sorted out, including blind worship of liberalism, myths about the European and American models, and misunderstandings of "One Country, Two Systems" itself.
No crisis should go to waste.
Although the most urgent and overriding task of Hong Kong at present is to fully prevent and control the epidemic, the structural problems exposed by the epidemic, especially some "legacy problems" at the cognitive level, also need to be summarized and reflected.
Otherwise, when the next crisis comes, Hong Kong will continue to argue on pointless issues and be caught off guard.