25th Anniversary of Handover | Why is Hong Kong's Democracy Exploration Important?

Looking back over the past 25 years, democracy has been a central issue between Hong Kong and Beijing.

The promulgation of the "Hong Kong National Security Law" and the revision of the electoral system have undoubtedly made it more difficult for the original pan-democratic groups in Hong Kong to participate in politics. However, "One Country, Two Systems" still gives Hong Kong room for new democratic explorations. The question is whether Hong Kong can form a A form of democracy that balances the dual demands of Beijing and Hong Kong people.

Compared with the development of the political system in the early days of the handover, the current electoral system in Hong Kong has been strongly injected by Beijing with security and order factors, and it has become a political system dominated by Beijing and characterized by the administrative dominance of the Hong Kong government.

This will indeed help maintain Hong Kong's national security, political stability, and improve administrative efficiency. The once-popular chaos of opposition for opposition's sake has been greatly reduced.

But there are two sides to the matter. The democratic component of the new electoral system has been significantly compressed, and the pan-democratic group, which has long held more than half of the public opinion in Hong Kong, has been excluded.

The outbreak of the Hong Kong amendment bill in 2019 strongly stimulated Beijing, which led to Beijing's strong adjustment of Hong Kong governance policies, and then the introduction of the National Security Law in the Hong Kong area and the revision of the electoral system.

(Xinhua News Agency)

This makes the new electoral system a necessary product of desperation in Beijing's eyes, which can exclude radicalism, nativism, and separatism, thereby ensuring the stability and effectiveness of Hong Kong's politics, but it still faces a relatively large recognition dilemma , and caused many Hong Kong people to be depressed and disheartened.

Of course, this is also to be expected.

After all, Hong Kong was under British colonial rule for more than 100 years. Hong Kong and the mainland have experienced very different experiences in the course of modern Chinese history, and each has formed different political psychology and ideology.

In the short term, if Hong Kong under the new electoral system can have a Hong Kong ruler similar to Hong Kong Governor MacLehose, carry out drastic reforms, make great efforts to govern, promote social justice, and win the hearts and minds of people with real political achievements, there is a chance It may change the perception of many Hong Kong people and enhance the recognition of the new election system and Beijing's governance of Hong Kong.

But in the long run, it is not enough to hope that a "one country, two systems" MacLehose will emerge in Hong Kong.

What Hong Kong needs is not only an effective and responsible chief executive, but an endless stream of effective and responsible rulers of Hong Kong.

Throughout the ages, whether a society can continue to produce responsible and effective politicians often determines how far a society's good governance can go.

Weekly Exclusive Featured｜Enhancing the level of governance promotes a paradigm shift in Hong Kong’s development

Regarding the importance of meritocracy in social development, Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, once said: "We have successfully moved from the third world to the first world in a generation... To build such a Singapore, we need a strong government, We have to have the most capable, most driven, most dedicated leaders. We are looking for these kinds of people and putting them to the test. Only such leaders can keep the economy growing and create good jobs.” He believes: "How much development and progress a country can achieve depends on whether its leaders have the ability to innovate, whether they are willing to learn from other peoples' experience, whether they can implement good ideas quickly and firmly through an efficient public service system, whether they can Convince the majority of the nation that there is value in making difficult reforms."

Although Hong Kong is not a country, the quality of governance, whether it is good or bad, is also inseparable from whether it can effectively select talents.

But at present, the new selection system in Hong Kong is still deeply constrained by the old talent selection mechanism and small circles. It is doubtful whether it can truly and continuously achieve "good talents make good use of them, and those who can live in them".

From this point of view, Hong Kong urgently needs to establish an elite selection mechanism that combines ancient and modern Chinese and foreign experience to select talents and talents, so that the talents can take on the important task of governing Hong Kong.

"One country, two systems" still gives Hong Kong room for new democratic exploration.

(China News Agency)

In addition, a very crucial point is that democracy is an irresistible trend and general trend in line with human nature.

Although there are various problems in democratic practice in the world at present, and the electoral democracy that Hong Kong people generally yearn for is even more problematic, democracy, as a widely recognized core value of modern human society, has long been an indisputable fact.

Of course, democracy as a value is one thing, and democracy as a system is another. If you want to build a high-quality and sustainable democratic system, it depends on a series of preconditions, not just shouting democratic slogans... ...

For details, please read the 324th issue of "Hong Kong 01" e-Weekly Newsletter (July 4, 2022) "